Konosuba: May this Party be Blessed with a Legendary Hero!
by slapsroofoffanfiction
Summary: This is discontinued. The 'reboot' is running under the name: 'May this Wonderful World be blessed with a Legendary Hero'
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: This note is going to be pretty long, but it is the first chapter, so (hopefully) they will be of some reasonable size after this one.

I get that this is (kind of) a weird crossover, I mean, the idea of link in the party belonging to satou kazuma is a bit ridiculous, but if you think about it, link would fit quite well into the word of adventurers that konosuba is. If kazuma had a reliably strong warrior on his team, I assume that they would go quite far.

But, I will be changing up link's personality, in a way that will be explained in the story, for instance, he will know how to talk now (lol) and he will have something of a split personality (once again, it will be explained later) in order to make things more interesting.

Now, I also want to get this out of the way now. Link will be described the way he is on the cover of 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild.' I personally find this to be the coolest looking link, so I chose this link. I know that he is older in botw, but in my story he will be about 14 years old, in order to fit into kazuma's party better.

Link will be joining kazuma's party in the time period early on in the canon where kazuma put the poster up in the adventurers guild saying that he was recruiting. BUT I will (unless you want differently) be skipping most events from the canon, as you all know them. I will probably include major things such as the fight with the dullahan and the mobile fortress, but, of course, they will be different because of the knock-on effects of link being introduced in the start.

This story will be written from the point of view of different characters, but I will make it obvious when the perspective changes.

As this is a konosuba story, I will assume that you have watched the anime/read the manga/light novels (personally, i have not yet read the light novels, but I want to as soon as possible) so if I mention an event I skipped in passing, you should know what I mean.

I also hope to upload a new chapter once every week, but I don't know how that will turn out, so it might become once every two weeks (and then the chapters will be longer).

One last thing, I have not written a story in a while, so in a few chapters I hope to improve my writing skills, so bear with me until then.

Now, I hope you enjoy my first story on this site!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the name Konosuba, it's world, or the characters who inhabit it. Everything belongs to Natsume Akatsuki, except from link, who belongs to nintendo.

 **Part 1 (Haruo):**

No. There was definitely not a more badass way to blackout. I shivered, and thought about it again. Maybe if it had been a bear instead of a… nah, I deserved the record. Seeing as I was now conscious, I guessed I was either in my bed at home, or a hospital. It seemed pretty cold for a hospital… Not only that, but I was sitting up. In a comfy chair. Nothing like a hospital. It was still really cold. I assumed that once I had blacked out, my parents took me home, unconscious, and put me in my desk chair? I considered getting up and turning the heating on. Nah, it was still pretty relaxing, even if it was chilly. In this windy, echoing bedroom. Well, it was somebody else's problem. It didn't concern me. I would just go back to sleep...

'Excuse me Haruo…'

I opened my eyes halfway.

'Hm?'

Wow, it was foggy. I didn't think my bedroom had ever been this foggy before. Reflecting on this, I started thinking that maybe I wasn't making a lot of sense. Hm.

'I apologise, but I need you to wake up, I have other deceased that I need to guide.'

That voice was annoying. Strange choice of words too. I opened my eyes fully, and saw two chairs and a girl. One of the chairs was the one that I was sitting on, and the other had the girl on top. This girl sighed, and proceed to begin talking:

'I am very sorry to inform you that you very recently passed away attempting to protect a child from a dog attack-'

'-How did anybody let that rottweiler kill me!?'

First looking annoyed at my interruption, then amused, she said:

'It was a chihuahua, and-'

'-Ah, well-'

'-Can you let me finish!?'

I shut up. Noticing my silence, she continued talking.

'Seeing as you are _dead_ , and you are so young, I would normally offer you three choices: to be sent to whichever afterlife you believe in, to have your memory wiped and be reborn on earth as a baby, or to be sent, as you are, with all of your memories intact, to a parallel world, in order to help defeat the demon forces that are plaguing it. The latter, because of several circumstances, will be impossible for you. There _is_ a workaround though, so if you choose to do that, I will explain it to you.'

She looked at me expectantly. I looked at her blankly. Part of me knew that I was supposed to choose an option. But my brain was out of commision, because the half of it that was working was shouting at the other half to wake up, so I just continued to stare. I registered that her blue eyes were beginning to look pretty angry. She looked like she was about to go over the edge, but then I managed to finally respond.

'That last option sounds pretty interesting…'

'Sigh'

The blue haired woman put her hands to her mouth and yelled.

'You can come in!'

I looked to the right. A third chair had appeared next to mine, with a figure in front. Wow. He looked pretty tough. He had long blond hair, some of which was coming down in front of his ears, and the rest was tied back in a loose ponytail. He was wearing a light blue short sleeve t-shirt, which was longer than normal, going down to ten inches below his waist, and had a cut going up on each side from the bottom, probably to aid mobility. He had some simple brown trousers, which looked light, but tough, going down to his adventurers' boots. Before he sat down, he took a dark blue shield off of a hook on the back of his shirt, and leaned it on the side of his chair. It had an intricate design on it, and in the middle was a Triangle, with a single, inverted triangle in the centre. After the shield came a sword in a dark blue sheath, and along the metal rim of the sheath, I could make out the words: 'The Sword that Seals the Darkness.' Next came a Bow and a sheath of blue and white feathered arrows. The figure sat down.

The annoying blue-eyed woman spoke, drawing my attention back to her.

'Now that we are all here, please let me explain your situations.'

'Haruo, you are unable to travel to the next world, for several reasons, which I will not care to explain, as they are of lesser importance. What _is_ important however, is that, like i said before, there is a workaround. I have explained your situation to link here,' she gestured to the boy sitting next to me 'And Link agrees that would both benefit from sharing a body, _his_ body. I will combine your minds-'

'-sounds violent, and like some bad opening line for a magic show,' I interrupted bluntly. The boy, Link, sighed beside me, annoyed, but said nothing. 'And you don't talk much, do you?' I addressed him. That annoying woman answered me. Did she ever stop talking?

'That is one of the things that Link will benefit from if I join your minds, because since birth, he has been quite reluctant to talk, and, obviously, you talk too much, so I'm hoping he will balance you out into a normal person,-'

'-Hey, i am-!'

'-What is the item that you would like to bring with you?'

I thought about it for a second, a bag that could fit an infinite number of things in it, but never get bigger or heavier would have been cool. In fact, I had always answered with that if someone asked me one of those stupid 'If you could have any one thing,' questions. Then I realised.

'Don't change the subject!'

The stupid blue-haired woman looked at me critically for a second. She sighed (why was everybody sighing at me so much?) and said:

'Look, I don't even know why I am asking you; Link has already told me, and it's not like _you_ have a choice anyway. Just get going.'

She clicked her fingers and my vision went black.

And my mind exploded.

 **Part 2 (Link):**

It was agony, but I couldn't scream. My mind was being invaded, thoughts, feelings and memories that didn't belong to me were being forced into my head. After what could have been seconds or hours passed, before I wished to die. Then the pain stopped.

I was sitting up again, with my eyes closed. My head was full of memories that didn't belong to me, but also seemed very familiar. I could remember picking up the tablet that hung by my waist in an ancient shrine, but also a similar device called an *pad. I assumed that Haruo's and Link's minds have been combined. In order to avoid referring to myself in third person, I would call myself Link. Haruo could be my family name. I sat still, with my eyes closed, for a bit longer, attempting to take in my surroundings with my other senses. The air was damp, so I guessed either I was in an equatorial or mediterranean region. Probably the latter, as it was not that hot. I could hear heavy breathing and braying to my right, and I could feel that the chair I was sitting in was made of wood. I was in a horse-drawn carriage. Probably I had been teleported by that goddess... Wait. Goddess? I was somehow surprised by this information. But no. She told me that herself before the haruo part of me arrived...

'Sir?'

I finally opened my eyes to realise that I was correct in my assumptions. The driver, the one who had addressed me, realised that I had awoken, and proceed to speak.

'We would be coming into Axel- the town of beginner adventurers, in about an hour, but there is going to be a delay, as we have just received word that a group of thieves have hijacked the previous caravan that passed this road..'

'How long is it going to be before we can get going again?' I asked.

'I apologise, but it looks like we are going to have to spend the night here, sir'

I thought about this. I was not as if I was in a big hurry, but if I could deal with them myself, I could speed things up, not only for me, but for the caravan as well. Not only that, but it would be a good chance to test whatever strengths I had acquired from switching worlds, and gaining a second mind. I jumped out of the back of the back of the carriage, and walked round to the front and addressed the driver.

'Don't worry about it, I will continue on foot. In what direction is the city, and where is the bandit camp?'

'Axel is in that direction,' He pointed to what I assumed to be east, If the sun was the same in this world, 'but it is not advisable to go alone sir,'

'I will be fine, thank you for your help,'

The man at the reins looked worried at my answer, but nodded.

As I walked off, something foreign bumped against my waist. Looking down, I saw an unfamiliar black pouch. Reaching inside, I found a dark blue hood with a half-cape coming off of it. The hood looked far to big to have fit in the small pouch, and I recalled thinking about a bottomless bag when the goddess asked me about an item that I had wanted to bring with me into this world. It would be invaluable.

I reached the bandit camp at dusk, and I creeped up behind one of their carriages, attempting to observe before I attacked, in order to formulate a plan, but as I made contact with my hiding place, I heard a footstep behind me.

'Don't move and I won't hurt you.'

Damn. I was careless. Natural instinct kicked in, and I ducked the blade that had been swung at me from behind.

'Won't hurt me my ass,' I responded.

I attempted to draw the sword still sheathed on my back. But, on touching the hilt, a jab of pain traveled up my arm, and I winced. My opponent growled as he shifted his swords' trajectory downward. To block the blade now coming at me from above, my left arm retrieved the shield stowed on the hook on by back. It stopped his sword dead, and didn't take even a scratch in return.

The impact must have jolted my opponent, as he didn't show much resistance as my right arm shot out from under the shield, grabbed a stone, and hit him in the head with it, knocking him out.

Half of my mind must have been still getting used to it's new body, because normally, I would have noticed him before. My enemy's' lack of consciousness would not last long however, so I would have to get going.

The camp was large, with eight carriages positioned around a central bonfire, in a circular formation. Around the fire was a mass of people, about twenty.

I snuck around the edge of the camp until I was on the opposite side of where I had that, short, silent struggle with the bandit. There, I paused outside one of the carriages, listening for any life inside. After a minute, I came to the conclusion that it was safe, and entered.

Inside, it became apparent that this caravan had not been transporting passengers, but goods, as where there would generally be seats, I could see giant mounds of something, covered by a waterproof canvas, in the light from the bandits' bonfire. I moved over to the smallest of these, lifted up the corner of the canvas, and barely had the time to gasp before I heard chanting outside:

'Wielder of the most glorious, powerful, and grand explosion magic,

My name is Megumin!

The blow that I am given to strike turns a blind eye to the fate of my kindred,

rendering all hope of rebirth and ahhhhhh-'

'-Shut up!'

When I heard the chant beginning, I had frozen for a few seconds, mesmerized, amazed that one person could be so stupid. When had come to my senses, I had swiftly jumped down from the carriage, moved over to the idiot who was shouting, clamped my hand over her mouth, and forced her behind cover. I then froze, and listened. Apart from the 'Hmmmmm-'ing from the girl I had silenced, I heard nothing out of the ordinary, it seemed that we had not been noticed. Somehow.

I turned to the girl.

She about my age, maybe a bit younger, and her black hair came down the side of her face, but stopped at her chin. Her hair was short at the back as well, except for some near her ears, which was draped over her shoulders on each side. She held a staff with a strange blue orb in her left hand, which had earlier been red. Her startling red eyes looked annoyed if I were to be a little optimistic. I whispered to her.

'I'm going to take my hand away now, and you are going to tell me your name, why you are here, and what you were trying to accomplish just there. If you don't whisper, we will be found.'

She still looked annoyed, but nodded her understanding. I took my hand off of her mouth, and helped her into a sitting position. She started:

'My name is Megumin!... Too loud?' she asked, as I glared at her.

I nodded. She started again, actually whispering this time.

'My name is Megumin, the genius of the crimson demon clan, and master of advanced magic! The guild assigned me a mission to retrieve the goods that these thieves have stolen! Before you stopped me, I was about to blow these worthless bandits away!'

She looked way too excited.

'How did you plan to do that if you had just announced your presence to the entire camp!?'

She looked at me as though she was happy that I had asked.

'Baka. I would have blown them away with the greatest of all spells the crimson demons possess- Explosion!'

'I was under the impression that you needed these goods intact to complete your assignment.'

Her excited look faded as I pointed this out.

'Ah.'

Now she looked downright depressed. Somehow, part of me felt bad. I told her:

'We might be able to take them out if we think things through further, and we work together.'

'How do you expect to to that?'

She completely shut me down after my show of optimism. Megumin continued:

'As you pointed out, we would have to have a force of people, at least enough to take these bandits on one on one, because techniques that utilize an area of effect, like my explosion, will risk damage to the goods. The only other option would be to move the enemy away from the carriages, so we can use my explosion. And we cannot make a distraction big enough for them to throw away caution and leave the carriages unguarded: the leader would probably not send a group of more than five men to investigate. We are out of options, we should go back to axel and request backup.'

I stared at her. I had misjudged her. When she had introduced herself, she came off as an over-excited chuunibyou. But she had just perfectly summed up our situation. She was definitely _much_ more intelligent than she appeared at first glance.

'While I am not denying your points, we may not be completely out of options, there may be a way to win with just the two of us.'

'How?' Megumin immediately questioned.

'I need some time to think about it.'

There was silence between us for a few minutes. Megumin broke it.

'So how long-'

'Just shut up for a second, kay?'

I started as a brainwave hit me.

'What happened?' Megumin asked.

'How big is your explosion spell?' I questioned

Megumin, once again, looked happy that I asked.

'About 150 metres of complete destruction from whichever point I center it over! Why? Do you have a plan?'

Oh no. She was getting excited again.

'Maybe, but it needs to take place when they move out, so let's wait until morning.'

Megumin agreed, and we snuck away. A silence fell between us as we searched for a place to spend the night.

When we had found somewhere, a decently-sized cave (I know, cliche right?), we sat down and I turned to my new friend. As we had been searching, she took to an enthusiastic mood.

'When the caravan moves out in the morning, I am going to need you to stow away in the first in the convoy.'

Megumin nodded.

'Don't worry, I will never be found, I will complete this mission, claim the reward, and finally buy some food!'

Why was she getting so excited at that prospect? I proceeded to answer her.

'Well, the thing is, I need you to be caught.'

 **Part 3 (Megumin):**

The Jolt of the cart woke me up. I shouldn't be falling asleep now, that boy, who had introduced himself as Link, would need for the plan. After finding, and hiding, in a cave last night, he had explained his plan to me. It was quite a good one, to be fair, and it at least had a chance of working. But how long had I been asleep? Not long, as the light still held the dark orange of the sun at dawn, instead of the bright yellow of day. But it was Link's fault that I had fallen asleep anyway; he had woken me up early, insisting that I had to stow away in the first carriage of the convoy before the thieves woke up. Link was hiding in the last cart.

The bandits were traveling in the way that Link had predicted they would: In a standard line, one after the other, with one difference. For defensive purposes, the carts were travelling at about two-hundred metres between each one, instead of the normal 30-50. This way, AoE attacks would be much less devastating, and they would still be able to mobilize quickly if there were any threats. But, this time, that would work in our favour.

It was probably about time to get caught.

I pushed the trapdoor that was above me up a little, and it was immediately pulled open by a force on the other side. Hands picked me up, pushed me into the ground, and held a knife to my throat.

'What are you doing here!?' A man's voice shouted.

Damn, he was loud. The whole caravan probably heard him. Perfect.

As my eyes focused, I could see that in this cart, there were four men, all guards by the look of them. Now, for the first, and riskiest, step. In the cave, Link had stressed out that I need not do this, that my life was worth far more than whatever these thieves had stolen. But I assured him that I wanted to go through with it anyway, and teased him about caring so much.

'I'm sorry!' I said, pretending to cry, 'I just wanted a lift to the next town, to see my parents, but I have no money! I didn't realise you would care so much! I'll leave now, just don't hurt me!' I sobbed. Maybe I was overdoing it… The man seemed to be caught up in a moment of indecision.

'It is true that transport costs too much. We can take you to the next town, but only that far!'

Phew. He bought it. The guard continued:

'But I will have to have you guarded.'

He took his knife away from my throat and looked at one of the other men in the cabin.

'Bring her to the boss. She can be held in his cabin.'

The caravan stopped as we got out, and I could feel the stares of many people as we walked down two carts. This was good. Everything was going according to plan, in the best way possible. I climbed into the cart where I assumed the boss was. This cabin had windows, and was obviously built to carry passengers instead of goods.

'What do we have here?'

The only man in the cabin, who I could safely guess was the boss of the operation, was about 50, and had a voice that was disgusting and, for want of a better word, _evil._ It made my bones shiver, and I almost recoiled as he grabbed my arm and forced me down on the bench close to him. _Too_ close to him.

'What is a pretty girl like you doing here?' He asked, seemingly feigning kindness.

It didn't sound kind. I wanted to hit this disgusting man and run. But I had to play the part.

'Thank you for letting me stay, I just want to get to the next town to see my parents again.'

'Now that won't be a problem will it?' The man draweld in that creepy, horrible voice.

I forced myself to answer.

'Thank you.'

The convoy continued moving. FIve minutes had passed before it stopped again. Another person stepped into the carriage and said:

'Cart 8 has stopped moving sir,'

So Link had succeeded!

'The horse is gone and everything sir.'

The boss replied with exactly what I wanted to hear.

'Send six men of your choice to investigate.'

The boss grabbed my wrist, pulled me up, and dragged me out of the carriage to watch. Up and down the convoy, people from the other carts were doing the same. As expected, even people such as these would have been curious about a driver, guards, and horse mysteriously disappearing from a carriage.

So far, everything was going according to plan. Link and I had successfully drawn everybody out of their carriages. I had served as a distraction while Link took care of the people in the last cart, loaded as many of the more valuable things as he could into this cool bag he had, stolen the horse and ridden away. He must now be hiding somewhere nearby.

After a few minutes, I spotted the six chosen men approaching the carriage cautiously. They moved around it for a bit, then took a look inside. When they came out, one of them held his arms up in confusion, signifying that they had found nothing. The boss, still painfully grasping my wrist, gestured for them to return.

They had only taken one or two steps before the cart exploded.

 **Part 4 (Link):**

(a/n: part 4 takes place at the same time as part 3, it is just from Link's point of view).

I bid farewell to Megumin as I closed the trapdoor above her.

'See you later.' I whispered.

'Yeah,' She yawned.

I looked at her worriedly. She had already said that she was not going to fall asleep. But I was still quite sure that she was going to. Nothing I said was really going to change that. I sighed as the trap door closed with a quiet thud.

I snuck out of the cart, and moved around the outside of the circle to the next carriage. This one would be the last of the convoy. But, unlike I had told Megumin to do, I crawled under the carriage. Last night, when I had investigated this carriage, I had found a horizontal board, with a spare wheel resting on it, underneath. If I removed the wheel, which I now did, there would be the perfect amount of space for someone of my size to stowaway. I stored the wheel I had removed underneath the trap door inside. While there, I found a double edged sword. About three feet long, it would serve until I managed to draw the sword still sheathed on my back, as last time I had been unable to. I dropped the fancy sword into my bottomless pouch, and replaced it with the common broadsword that I had found. I proceeded to go to my hiding place.

About half an hour later, I heard a faint voice shouting from the front of the caravan. A normal person would have been unable to hear it, but I had trained my senses, so I did. It said:

'What are you doing here!?'

I smiled to myself. Perfect, Megumin had been caught. Now. Phase 2.

In one fluid motion, I swung out of my hiding place, around the back of the cart, and jumped in. There was only one guard in this cart, and I silenced him before he could shout by hitting him with the hilt of my new sword, which was still sheathed. I bound him and gagged him.

I proceeded to look around the cart, preparing to store as many of the goods as possible in my bottomless pouch. Despite its name, I found that it was _not,_ in fact endless, and had the storage capacity of about three large suitcases. Luckily though, I was able to fit most of the stolen items in, as this last cart was not full.

Time for phase 3. I reached into my pouch, and pulled out several sticks of dynamite.

Yesterday, when I was investigating the carts, (just before I met Megumin) I had been surprised to find that the cart that I had decided to look in, was full of weaponry. Under the specific canvas cover that I had lifted, was a box full of explosives. When you think about it, it made sense: it explains why the city was taking so long to send men in to retrieve the goods. With the level of power that these criminals were wielding, they would need strong warriors, and a good plan, in order to succeed.

Too bad for them that we would beat them to it.

Thinking that it may come in useful, I had put a handful of dynamite in my pouch.

I was right to do so.

I planted the explosives now, under the trapdoor that I assumed all of the carriages have. I led the fuse through a crack in the side of the trap door. Underneath, there was at least ten minutes worth of fuse wire. I lit it.

I snuck through the front of the cart, and knocked out the driver from behind. I strapped him and the guards' now-unconscious bodies to the horse, cut the ropes binding the horse to the cart, jumped on, and rode away.

In the commotion that Megumin was causing, no-one saw me leave.

 **Part 5 (Megumin):**

 _They had only taken one or two steps before the cart exploded._

The boss, as creepy as he was, seemed to be an half-good leader. Which was okay, as our plan counted on that. He yelled at the person next to him:

'Stay with _her_ , and don't let her leave this spot! The rest of you come with me and we will find the person responsible!'

They ran toward the wreckage of the now flaming wagon. They all started searching around it.

My guard looked at me.

'Now that my friends are over there, what say we have a little fun?' he asked, and started approaching me.

He was somehow creepier than his boss. I responded.

'I really don't want to, sir...'

'And what are you going to do about it?'

I smiled at him sweetly.

'Absolutely nothing.'

A wet thunking noise was audible, and the man keeled over, with a white and blue feathered arrow in the side of his head.

I looked away, disgusted, to see Link running toward me, with his left hand storing a silver-colored bow on his back. I shouted to him.

'I thought you weren't going to kill him!'

'I wasn't, but then I heard what he was saying. He didn't deserve to live.'

It was true.

'Thanks.'

'No problem.'

He had reached my side. He questioned.

'Are you going to do this?'

I am. If I limit the power, they shouldn't die.

The circumstances were perfect: the majority of the enemies were in one place: the flaming wreckage of the cart that Link blew up. Which was emptied of valuables beforehand. Not only that, but it now a good three-hundred and fifty metres from the next cart in the line. I smiled and began:

'Darkness blacker than black, and darker than dark,'

Link watched in awe as blue light seeped from everything in the surrounding area, and flowed into my staff.

'I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson,

The time of awakening cometh,

Justice, fallen upon this infallible boundary,'

Giant, flaming, orange rings appeared stacked in the sky above my target- the wreckage of the carriage that link blew up - where the bandits were grouped.

'Appear now as an intangible distortion,

This is the mightiest means of attack known to man:

The ultimate attack magic!'

The blue energy stopped flowing, and the orb on my staff turned red. There were now multicolor sparks appearing in the sky around Link and I. I grinned as I turned and saw his expression: One of pure awe and fear. I turned back toward my target.

'EXXPLOOOOSSION!'

Shockwaves brought Link to his knees as the sky in front of us lit up red. The reverberation shook our very bones. But then it stopped. Link got up shakily.

'Your plan worked,' I mumbled happily as I fell forward from mana exhaustion.

But I didn't fall far, as Link caught my on his back, apparently having stored his shield, sword and bow in that cool bag.

'Thanks.'

'No worries, but don't you think you went a bit overboard?.'

'Sorry, I got caught up in the moment.'

Behind us were two carts full of goods.

In front, there were four carts full of goods.

Beyond that however, there was nothing but a crater.

 **Part 6 (Link):**

After that, I had sat Megumin up against a rock, and we had sat there. My plan worked perfectly, but I had never thought of a way to return the carts to the city. There were seven left, and no horse would be able to drag that weight along. So we waited. Eventually, around midday, a small army charged into the area, and I had to explain to them what had happened. They had a hard time believing it, but eventually they had accepted it, and offered us transport home.

I now jumped off the cart, with Megumin still on my back, and asked:

'Where to?'

'Well, we should probably pick up the reward from the guild. Then we can eat.'

Once again, I wondered why that made her so excited. I started walking. I had only taken a few steps before I realised something.

'Erm… I don't actually know where this guild is…'

'WHAT?!'

Did I offend her? She calmed down a bit. But not much.

'You aren't registered with the adventurers guild!?'

'Erm… no…'

She didn't look angry. Just astounded.

'But… you fight with a sword and shield… you made that plan…'

She trailed off. Then looked determined.

'Right. We now have another reason to go to the guild.'

She jumped off of my back and tried to march off. Apparently, she had forgotten that she couldn't move, as she swiftly fell over again.

'Do you need some help?'

'Please.'

 _At the guild_

'Well Megumin, this is a pleasant surprise! I honestly didn't expect you to succeed in your quest! You are entitled to how much? Eight-hundred thousand eris was it?'

'Yes, the guild owes me 800,000 eris. And I don't know why you doubted me Luna, as I am the strongest mage in the city.' Megumin replied from my back.

I chuckled. Megumin had no modesty. She also didn't appreciate my laugh.

'What's so funny?' She asked into my ear.

'Whos this?' The receptionist, apparently named Luna, asked. 'A team member?'

Somebody in the bar behind us overheard.

'WHAT? THE CRAZY EXPLODING GIRL HAS A TEAMMATE!?'

The entire bar begun shouting incredulously.

I started laughing and replied to them all.

'I think that I am only an acquaintance in arms, but I would be happy to join a team with her.'

Megumin also shouted from my back.

'Of course he is a team member! He doesn't know what he is talking about!'

I continued laughing

After a few minutes, the clamour died down. Megumin and I claimed our money, and split it between us. Then we sat down, and megumin ordered about fifty- thousand eris worth of food. I asked the question that had been on my mind for a while.

'Why are you so excited about food?'

'I haven't eaten in two days.'

My eyes widened as I stared at her. She couldn't' be more than fourteen years old, and even that seemed to be pushing things. I gave her a questioning look, but she turned her attention back to her food, and didn't notice. But then she looked to the side and addressed someone who was standing next to our table, who I had not noticed in my surprise.

'Do you need something?'

The person was actually two. One was a boy probably a little older than me, wearing a green tracksuit. He had brown, messed up hair, and green eyes. Next to him, stood a girl who looked also about my age, maybe a bit older, who had blue hair, blue eyes, and an annoying face. It was a beautiful face, sure, but it annoying because I recognised her.

'Aqua?'

The boy seemed surprised.

'You know her?' He asked me.

'I'll explain later Kazuma! Now ask what you wanted to ask!' Aqua interrupted.

'Oh right…' The boy, Kazuma, said. 'Erm, earlier, I overheard that you guys had recently formed a party. Well, so have we, so I wanted to know whether you two would want to join mine…'

Authors note: Well, there was the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Like I said before, I will hopefully get better at, well, english the more I write... I have already said pretty much everything I wanted to say in that essay earlier so…. See you when I have finished the next chapter. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: Thank you to everyone who followed my first chapter! It makes me happy to know that people enjoy what I write! At the time of writing, I have 4 favourites and 7 followers! Thanks! Also, I have two reviews! Thank you to Xenophos24 for making some constructive criticism about my story. The main thing he pointed out (sorry if you're a she) is that I was using too many commas at some points. So, obviously I will try to fix that. His other point is that I was using ' instead of " to indicate speech. So, in this chapter I will change that also. The last thing he mentioned was that Link's second personality didn't really show itself in the first chapter. I am going to include that as soon as possible, but exactly _when_ is going to be dependant on when I perfect the idea. But it won't be in this chapter. Sorry. But enough of this. Enjoy the story!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the name Konosuba, it's world, or the characters who inhabit it. Everything belongs to Natsume Akatsuki, except from Link, who belongs to nintendo.

 **Part 1 (Kazuma):**

"Your stats are average across the board, except from intelligence and luck, which are far above."

Luna the receptionist broke the news to me.

"Ah… well could you please sign me up to be an adventurer?"

I was starting to feel very depressed. I was not a day into my life in a fantasy world, and already, everything had been a disappointment. This woman by my side was a goddess though… That only led me to wonder whether or not all deities were this annoying.

Noticing my mood, Luna continued:

"You do have the perfect skillset to be a successful merchant, and you can always switch jobs later…"

"No. Please sign me up to be an adventurer."

"O-okay."

Oops. That came out more aggressively than I intended. I was about to apologize before Aqua interrupted me.

"What about me?"

"Well, if you could please put your hand over this crystal… What!?"

Luna seemed to be lost for words. Her face had gone very pale. Aqua patted her on the back and comforted her.

"You're okay, everything is going to be fine. Now, what happened?"

"Y-your stats are all further above a-average than I have ever seen…except for intelligence…"

She seemed to calm down a bit.

"With these stats, you could be any class!"

Aqua looked in my direction smugly, like it was something to be proud of. I wasn't surprised. In fact, if her stats had been average like mine, I would have done everything in my power to refund her for an ability or item. Aqua misjudged my expression for one of awe, and turned back to Luna.

"Well, in that case, as there is no Goddess class, I would be very happy if you would set my job to arch-priest!"

Luna looked like she was about to faint. As she, unlike me, was awestruck.

"An arch-priest who damages her enemies and heals her teammates! Such a noble job! An excellent choice!"

By now, a circle of onlookers had formed around us, and at Luna's announcement, started cheering. Come on. Really? I left. Aqua stayed and sucked it up.

"Thank you! Thank you! I _am_ beautiful, amazing, and strong, aren't I?"

Tsk. I continued to walk away, until I reached a bench. I slumped down on it. It took several minutes before Aqua's admirers got bored, but eventually they did, and Aqua came to join me.

"Well, I'm a little hungry,' she said 'so why don't we order some food?"

Sounded good to me. I was hungry too. And I was more than a little peckish. My mouth started to water as I thought of all the delicacies they may serve in this parallel world. It was not long that my feeling of elation lated however, as I had already encountered a problem.

"Is food free in this world then?"

I was hungry too, but some degree of satisfaction returned as I watched Aqua's face transform. It was then quickly vanquished as she grabbed on to my collar and started shaking me.

"KAZUMA-SAN! WE DON'T HAVE MONEY!"

"I got that." I replied in irritation.

"BUT KAZUMA-SAN WE CAN'T GET FOOD OR A PLACE TO SLEEP!"

Crap. I hadn't thought of that last one.

"KAZUMA-SAN _THEY_ HAVE MONEY, WHY DON'T WE HAVE MONEY!?"

From the counter where Luna sat, some words drifted over.

"...succeed in your quest! You are entitled to how much? Eight-hundred thousand eris…?"

I looked over. Luna was talking to two people. A blond boy who looked about 14 was wearing a light blue t-shirt and carrying a girl about his age, who was wearing bright red. It was the girl who spoke.

"Yes… Eight-hundred thousand eris...I am the strongest mage in the city."

I lost interest and looked away. They must have been high-level adventures, reporting back from a quest that had it been Aqua and I attempting, we would have no hope of succeeding.

I was trying to decide ahead of time what would be the most comfortable way to sleep on cobblestones, when-

"WHAT!? THE CRAZY EXPLODING GIRL HAS A TEAMMATE!?"

There arose a clamour form all of the adventurers who I assumed to be veterans.

"Wow. I never thought that arch-mage would find a party." Somebody near us chuckled.

Wow. This girl only just formed a party. I looked back over to the receptionist's desk. The boy carrying the mage laughed and said:

"I would be happy to join a team with her-"

"Of course he is a teammate!"

I had an idea. I waited for the shouting to die down, and watched as the boy walked over to a table and sat the girl down on the bench. He proceeded to take a sword and shield out of what was probably a magic bag on his hip, as it would have never fit in there otherwise. He hung them on his back, as well as a bow. Well. What could you say? He was well equipped.

He was looking worried as a waiter came round and laid what was essentially a royal feast on their table.

"They must be so rich. They have so much food." Aqua said wistfully.

It seemed that she was looking in the same direction as I was. Didn't stop her from being completely stupid.

"Are you kidding? Are you deaf? They have just formed a party, and they are obviously not from rich families, with their clothes. That girl just ordered more than either of them can afford."

"Let's ask them to join up our parties."

I stared at Aqua. Was it possible that not _all_ of her ideas were _completely_ useless? Well. It was unlikely they would say yes… but it was worth a shot.

Two minutes later we were standing at their table. The boy was regarding Aqua and I with a surprising kindness, while the short-haired girl was looking at us coldly. Aqua spoke.

"Kazuma! Ask what you wanted to ask!"

Tch. As if it were my idea. Well. Here goes nothing.

"Erm, earlier, I overheard that you guys had recently formed a party. Well, so have we, so I wanted to know whether you two would want to join mine…"

 **Part 2 (Kazuma):**

The boy's face switched to an expression of surprise, but that was nothing compared to the transformation of the girl's face. She looked amazed, and excited, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You want to join my party?"

"Um… yes?"

Of all of the reactions that I expected, that was not one of them. She still looked like she was in a dream.

"B-but, no-one… I mean…" She trailed off.

She looked at me again and grinned.

"Do you think you are worthy to ask I, Megumin- the genius of the Crimson Demon clan, to join your feeble ranks!? Prove to me that you are worth my breath!"

I was lost for words. Literally. My only-human brain could not seem to come up with a response to whatever it was that just happened. It was stuck trying to remember what it was that I said that provoked this behavior. The boy got up and was now trying to calm the girl down, as she had stood up on the table in order to look down on us during her outbreak. He spoke.

"I don't have a problem with it."

I stared at him, then looked back at the girl. How could two such drastically different people have made friends?

"Mind if we sit down?" I asked.

"No, that's fine." He replied.

"Hmpff."

We both looked at the girl. Obviously, she didn't appreciate her questionable actions being completely ignored. The boy quickly asserted himself.

"Unless Megumin has a problem with it," He said quickly. He also gave me an apologetic look.

"Well, I don't think that Link should be inviting people to _my_ table, to eat _my_ food."

Wow. Earlier, wasn't she amazed that anybody would _want_ to sit with her? Where did this TsunTsun pouting baby come from? I turned my back and addressed the girl named Megumin.

"Alright then, I am sorry for intruding, we will be going."

"Wait! No!" She ran around me and bowed her head.

"Please come and sit with us!"

Ha. As I thought. She is nothing but a lonely mage who let her stupid chinnibyou obsessions get the better of her actions. Better reinforce her belief that I wanted to leave.

"No, no, don't worry about it! I will be on my way, as you obviously don't want me here."

I had to suppress a grin. Her worried look was growing.

"No, please come and sit with us, so we can discuss the formation of a party."

I failed at hiding my smile this time. I laughed 'good naturedly.'

"All right then, if you insist.."

I moved to sit down, and as I passed Link, he whispered to me:

"Well played."

I grinned again. I sat down beside Aqua, who was already pigging out on Link and Megumin's food. It explained why she had been so silent during our conversation. Link sat down beside Megumin and asked a question.

"So how does this whole party formation work?"

Phew. I hadn't wanted to ask that question, because I was the one who had asked to join in the first place. I was lucky that Link had spared me the embarrassment of asking myself. Megumin spoke.

"Well, it is pretty straightforward. We just need to go to Luna and have it marked on our adventurers' cards.'

Straightforward indeed. I got up.

"Well, in that case, why are we sitting here?"

We left Aqua at the table, and headed over to the counter where the receptionist still sat.

"Hello again Luna! We want to form a party!"

I could hear another small 'Hmph' behind me. I ignored it. Luna did the same.

"Well, I would be happy to set things up for you, but I don't believe this young man is registered." She gestured to Link, who was standing slightly behind me.

"He is not registered yet, but he wants to be. I am sure that he will have good stats." Megumin said behind me. Luna smiled.

"I am sure he will. Now, could you please hold your hand above this crystal here?"

"Sure."

The crystal glowed blue for Link as it did for me, and Luna retrieved the card like she did for me. Unlike me she did for me, she let out a gasp.

"Oh my! This is the second outstanding card I have seen today!"

She addressed link.

"Haruo Link is it? Well, your stats are slightly above average in Mana reserves and Magic, but your Luck is slightly below… However, your agility, strength, speed, stamina and weapon skill are some of the best that I have seen! May I recommend some sort of blademaster class? Maybe a crusader? Or a Master Swordsman?"

"Could I be a Fast Knight?"

"Of course! A knight that relies on speed and mobility in combat instead of brute strength!"

I looked at Link, annoyed. Why must everyone make a bigger impression than me? I turned and spoke to Megumin.

"Can I see your adventure card?"

Her eyes narrowed as she took it out and gave it to me. I looked at it. Of course. It showed that she was better than me in everything other than luck. I looked at her. Could this little girl really be physically stronger than me!? I stomped over to a table. I turned to Megumin.

"COME HERE AND ARM WRESTLE WITH ME!"

She grinned evilly and obliged.

 **Part 3 (Link):**

"Thank you Luna."

Luna smiled at me and replied.

"No problem. I will register you and your friends into a party now. I expect to see great things from you!"

I smiled and left. I called out to my newly formed party and they came over. Aqua arrived first, as she had been seemingly bored after finishing all of Megumin's food. Kazuma came next, with a pained look on his face, and grasping his own arm in pain. I gave a questioning look to Megumin, but she only responded with a truly evil smile. I shivered.

"So does anybody know a place that I could sleep tonight? I'm new here." I said.

It was luna who responded. "Well, beginner adventures generally start off sleeping in a rented shed or something of the sort…"

"Kazuma, I know a farmer who has a open lodging that you and Aqua can use, and Link can sleep at my place."

Luna looked surprised.

"Megumin, you have a place? I thought you slept in a-"

"-Shut up!"

Kazuma spoke. "Shouldn't Aqua go with you? Then Link and I can go to rent that place you mentioned." He continued, muttering. "And I don't want to sleep in the same room as _her."_ He looked over at Aqua, who was ordering more food.

Megumin apparently heard Kazuma's mumbling.

"Likewise, I would not like to do that either. And that horrible look you gave me earlier when I bowed to you leads me to not trust _you_ in the slightest. So the sleeping arrangements will be you and Aqua in the farmers stable. Link and I will be sleeping at my place." She gave Kazuma another evil look. "And if you want to afford the rent, you had better be back here in the morning at eight o'clock sharp, so we can take on a quest." She said this all very forcefully, and slightly angrily.

I looked at Kazuma. Megumin's final words had seemed to have the same effect on him as a small hammer to the side of the head would. He looked at Megumin, who seemed to be the self-elected leader now, and nodded.

"Of course." Kazuma said hoarsely.

After Megumin led us to where Kazuma and Aqua were they going to stay, they were both pretty silent. Kazuma stayed silent for pretty much the whole journey, while Aqua looked as if she was going to vomit if she opened her mouth. We dropped them off in what was essentially a large shed, and Megumin gave the farmer the first payment. Kazuma looked relieved until Megumin told him that he had to pay the money back as soon as he had it. Kazuma somehow became more depressed that he was before.

After that, Megumin and I headed over to her 'Place,' which turned out to be a horse stable. After sleeping on a bed of hay with three other broke adventurers, we went to the guild and waited for Kazuma and Aqua, while browsing the quests that were pinned to the message board.

"What about this one?" Megumin read it out "An undead plague is threatening local villagers, destroy them at all costs."

"Sounds good, but what about 'A rivalry between me and my old friend calls for us both to hire knights to fight in a gladiatorial arena.' I could earn some money and practice as well…"

"What about this one.. It is kind of easy, and it allows us to observe the abilities of Aqua and Kazuma.." Megumin pointed it out to me.

"Sure… that looks good…" I replied. "Yes, let's do that one."

Then, I heard a voice from outside the guild.

"BUT KAZUMA-SAN! IT'S EIGHT IN THE MORNING! LET ME GO BACK TO SLEEP."

"Here they are." Megumin and I muttered at the same time. I looked at her and she giggled. Laughing, we walked over to the door and threw it open. Walking off to the site of the quest, we passed Kazuma, who was dragging Aqua along by the collar. He looked at us in confusion. I spoke.

"Get that stupid look off of your face and come with us!" Wow. I have no idea where that came from. Megumin was looking at me with an astounded look, bet then she laughed and turned to Kazuma.

"Yeah, make yourself useful and come and kill some toads with us!"

Half an hour later we were standing in a field, very close to where Kazuma and aqua were staying. Before us, were several giant toads. During spring, it was their mating season, and it was common for them to intrude on the fields where sheep and cows were grazing, and kill the livestock. It was also not uncommon for small children to go missing this season, after playing in these fields.

It was our job to exterminate these pests. Or, in Megumin's eyes, it was the job of Kazuma and Aqua. We were leaning against a tree, and Megumin was laughing as they ran away from the toads. They were not fast enough however, as one caught Aqua, and lifted her up by her upper body, slowly swallowing her. You could hear a faint screaming. I jumped and made to run to help, but Megumin stopped me.

"They'll be fine, look."

When the toad had lifted Aqua up, it exposed it's neck. Using this opening, Kazuma jumped in order to kill the toad and save Aqua. Mid-flight, another toad caught him and lifted him up too. Megumin's grip on my arm relaxed.

"Ah."

I ran down the hill and killed the toads, by cutting their now-exposed necks with my sword.

I helped Kazuma and Aqua out of their blankets, and they stood up shakily. I addressed Aqua.

"Aqua-san, you're an arch-priest right? Go over to that toad and use some flashy magic on it."

Kazuma looked confused for a second, but then grinned.

"Yeah, it may be the only way we can beat them."

Aqua looked at us and smiled.

"Of course! I will save this party with my divine powers! I thank you for attempting to win, but there is no need to worry anymore!"

She ran off. We watched her and Kazuma asked me a one-word question.

"Bait?"

"Yep."

Aqua started yelling.

"Feel the power of the gods! Regret that you ever stood in my path, and bare your fangs at the heavens! God Blow!"

Aqua's first started glowing gold, and everyone, including the frogs, stared mesmerized.

"God blow is a lethal fist that carries the weight of a goddesses rage and sorrow!"

Aqua struck the frog. The gold glow faded. Aqua was once again in the process of being swallowed.

"Aqua-samaaaaaa!" Kazuma leaped to her rescue.

Well, the plan worked.

"Feel the wrath of the crimson demons, frog!"

Oh no.

"EXXPLOOOSION!"

It wasn't as powerful as before, but she visibly hit two frogs.

"Nice going, that's another three-hundred thousand." I told her

"Erm, Link... "

"Yes?"

"I would appreciate it if you could come and pick me up now.."

"Oh, right.'

I finally turned around, only to see Megumin being picked up by another giant toad.

"Sh*t."

I started running to try to prevent Megumin from being swallowed. That quest could have gone better, to say the least.

 **Part 4 (Megumin):**

After I single-handedly saved our quest, Link, Kazuma, Aqua and I were forced to take a trip to the bath-houses. The three of us who were swallowed by toads were dripping in their saliva, and Link had carried me there after my explosion, so he was in the same boat.

Later, after cleaning and changing, we headed to the guild. Link brought up the subject of the reward for our quest.

"Each toad was worth one-hundred and fifty-thousand. So seeing as Megumin and I got two each, so that's six-hundred between us." He said.

"You're forgetting the one that I saved Aqua from, so we have seven-hundred and fifty." Kazuma corrected him.

"Oh, yes. So that's a little below one hundred and ninety each."

Link looked satisfied, but Kazuma didn't. In fact, he looked quite depressed. I assumed it was because of his money situation. Link looked content, because he was sharing rent with me. Even if he was without money when he met me two days ago, both of us would have at least five-hundred-thousand eris each. While that is not nearly enough to live anywhere but a stable, it was far more than Kazuma, who was still essentially broke, as his weekly rent cost almost as much as he had just earned.

"It's to be expected that a low-level quest like that one would not pay well. Especially seeing as we have to split the money in 4." I tried to console him. I knew too well the struggles of being broke.

"But we struggled in that _low-level_ quest, so how the hell are we going to take on a high-level one, or even a standard one?" He replied.

Link was the one who responded. "Well, I think we _could_ take on a medium-level quest, we just have to think about our strategy more. I can fight better than I did, I _know_ Megumin was holding back today, so she wouldn't hurt you or Aqua by accident, and I assume Aqua has some powers that she didn't show today."

"So I'm useless then!?" Kazuma's downcast mood was turning into anger. Link quickly responded.

"No, you aren't. In fact, you could be the most useful member of our party. Have you ever thought about being a strategist?"

Kazuma's anger subsided immediately, seemingly thinking. I continued Link's argument.

"It seems you have. What do you think we could have done better today?"

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds. Aqua broke the silence.

"Kazuma!? A strategist!? What makes you think that a-"

"Our team is badly balanced." Kazuma interrupted.

Link looked at him with satisfaction.

"Elaborate."

"Well, our team revolves principally around offensive physical and magic attacks. Aqua would fill the role of support. We don't really have any defensive abilities between us."

Link smiled at him.

"Exactly. And, with that conclusion, I can fairly say that Kazuma should be team captain."

'What!?' I thought.

"What!?" Aqua yelled.

It seemed ridiculous. Despite my previous actions, everyone had seemed to silently agree that Link was the party leader. It hadn't even crossed my mind that Kazuma may be a better option. It made sense actually…

"Kazuma!? The leader!? That is the stupidest thing that I have ever-"

"No, actually, Link is right. On their adventure cards, Kazuma's intelligence statistic is actually slightly higher than Link's. Link obviously has more combat experience, so it would suit him better to be our main close to medium range fighter. If he is in combat during a quest, which he will inevitably be, it would be much better to have Kazuma call the shots. Then Link can focus on the enemy he is fighting, without having to worry about coming up with a strategy for everybody else."

Link smiled again. "Exactly, so sorry Aqua, you are outvoted."

Kazuma just looked bewildered. He started as if an idea had struck him.

"Well, then, as captain the first order I want to make is that we are all going to put away fifty percent of our earnings, so that we can buy a house with enough bedrooms so that I don't have to sleep with this useless goddess!"

Maybe this was a bad idea after all. But something about what he said was strange…

"Goddess?" I questioned.

"Don't bother asking." Link said.

"Yeah, Aqua has a problem where she believes that she is, and calls herself a goddess. I guess I have been spending too much time with her, so it's rubbing off on me."

Oh. It was like that.

"I see. How sad."

"Hmph!" Aqua ran off.

Well, at least it got rid of her. I turned to Kazuma.

"About that defensive member you want, I think I know someone who would be willing to fill the role. She recently got kicked out from her previous party you see."

Kazuma's eyes narrowed.

"Why did she get kicked off?"

I don't know. I'm not great friends with her or anything.

"I'm sure it won't be a problem."

He looked at me suspiciously, then relaxed.

"Ok. I'll trust you with finding this fifth member."

"Right, I'll try to talk to her soon."

We reached the guild, and picked up our reward. Kazuma then set up a bank account, and we all put aside some money, to pay for a house in the future. After having lunch, Kazuma left to find Aqua, to give her her share of the earnings. I turned to Link.

"Are you planning on doing anything this afternoon?"

"Not really, why?" Link said.

"Well, I was going to go and pick up some gear from a magic shop, and I was wondering if you wanted to come."

He slapped his forehead with his right hand, as if remembering something.

"Oh yeah, I'm needing to talk to someone who knows about magic items, so that's perfect. Yeah, I would really like to come."

 **Part 5 (Megumin):**

"Good morning, how can we help you?"

The owner of the shop greeted me. Then he realised who it was that he was talking to.

"Ah, Megumin, you are here to purchase items that will increase your destructive power?"

Link winced beside me. I wonder why.

"Yes, you are correct. Before lunch, I cast my explosion magic, and was only able to get two enemies. So I need an item that will widen the potential radius of damage."

"I see. And what does this young man need?"

"Well, I need to talk to an expert about a certain magical item that I have…" Link responded.

I didn't know he had any magic items. He never told me. For some reason, it really annoyed me.

"How come you never showed me?"

Link started.

"Well… it never really occurred to me to…"

He seemed pretty nervous. Both the shop owner and I looked at him curiously.

"Well, out with it."

Link was stunned.

"Now?"

The owner of the shop was getting impatient, and lost all manner of professionalism.

"Yes now!" We both yelled.

Link nodded and reached into his pouch. He pulled out a sword and sheath. The sheath was blue and gold, and, admittedly it appeared very well made. It looked like a cool sword and all, but it was still a sword. I was about to point this out, but then the shop owner gasphed.

"This is a very interesting item indeed. May I see it?"

Link hesitated, then handed it over.

"This is a very powerful item indeed. I assume that when you draw it, you will find that it is second to none in terms of sharpness. Also, about this triangular symbol, and these gold patterns around it. I think it is safe to say that it is a seal. I will assume that this seal makes it unbreakable, as well as giving the user more potential attacks. Attacks that a non-magic sword would be able to do. Now, may I?"

The man made to draw the sword. Link yelped and tried to stop him, but it was too late.

The sword didn't come out of the sheath. The air around the owner glowed blue, then red. The colour all rushed into him, and the man screamed in fear and agony. He fell to the floor, dropping the sword.

Link rushed to help him up.

"I am so sorry sir, I should have warned you, I-"

"-No no, it is my fault. I should have known…"

I spoke as Link helped the man to his feet.

"S-sir, may I ask? K-known-what?" I asked shakily. That did not look like human magic. It looked like the magic of a demon.

"That seal was placed on the sheath, and I assume there is another one on the sword as well. It was placed there by someone with near limitless power, to give the sword, and therefore the wielder, power. It seems it can only be drawn by someone who the sword itself deems worthy."

Link stayed quiet. The man continued.

"I know that this may be asking a lot, but can you leave it in my possession for a while? I assume that you too, are unable to draw it?"

Link struggled with himself for a moment. Then nodded.

"I will be unable to use it myself anyway, so I will not go stealing it."

"Okay."

"Thank you."

He bowed to us as we left the shop. As we were walking down the streets of axel, Link turned to me.

"Weren't you going to buy something?"

"Kazuma took half of my money, remember?"

He laughed and replied:

"You didn't remember until two minutes ago."

How does he know me so well after only two days? Oh well. I didn't need to admit that he was right.

"Where are we going now?" I asked.

"Well, do you know where there is a decent blacksmith?"

I showed him to it. I never really had any need to go there. But I knew where it was; I've passed it often enough. When we stepped inside, a burly man walked up to us. He had none of the formal attire or attitude of the man in the magic shop.

"Hey! What will ye be needin'?" He smile as he spoke.

"Hello, I would like to ask for a quote on some custom armour."

"What kind of armour do ya' want?"

Link wants to wear armour? I thought his class was quick knight. He took out a sketch and showed it to the smith. He proceeded to explain verbally. Probably for my benefit as well as the man's.

"I need some chain-mail for my upper body, but with plating protecting the more important parts of my body, such as my shoulders, my elbows and um…" He looked at me apologetically "My Nether regions."

My face was feeling unusually warm, but I pretended not to notice what he said.

"It should be made light enough so that I don't lose any mobility, but strong enough so that it does not break easily. The plating should be adamantite, Chlorophyte, or some other strong mineral. I also don't want spikes or any other type of offensive properties on it. On top of this, I would like it if it fit under my current adventuring clothes. I understand that it is a lot to ask, but can you do it?"

The blacksmith immediately responded. "Of course I can do it m'boy, but adamantite won't come cheap. This set you are talking about will cost around four mil'."

Link winced and thought about it.

"That would be perfect. Thank you. When should I come to pick it up? Can I pay then?"

"Come back in ten days and I will have it done. But I'm going to need a deposit of five-hundred thousand."

Link froze. He turned to me. He had a bright smile on his face.

"So… Megumin… How much do you have on you?"

 **Part 6 (Megumin):**

"I'll pay you back."

Link knew about my and mood, and was trying to rectify his mistake.

"How many times have I heard that?"

I smiled internally. That shut him up.

True to his word however, he did pay me back after a few days of questing. In double. I warmed back up to him after that. Speaking of questing, that is all that we were doing recently. On a good day, Link and I would wake up and go to meet Aqua and Kazuma at the guild at six in the morning. It sounds hard, but we quickly got used to our new sleep schedule. Most of us. On such days where Kazuma succeeded in getting Aqua out of bed (hay bale), we were able to apply for, and take on low-level quests every day. We even attempted a couple of quests for higher-level adventurers. Under Kazuma's lead, we succeeded in completing even those.

In our parties' bank account, we were nearing ten million Eris. In my personal account, I had almost three million. Kazuma was about the same. Even Aqua had been working hard to do her part for the team.

None were working as hard as Link however, as he was hovering over 10 million himself. Most of the money in our collective account had come from him. Aside from the two quests he was taking on everyday with us, he was taking night-jobs as well. It seemed several nobles had heard of his exploits taking care of the Bandit-camp with me, as many were keen on hiring him to do mercenary and guard jobs. _Why_ he was working so hard, I don't know, but I didn't mind. This week he had paid the rent instead of splitting it with me after all.

We were eating frog meat at the guild when...

"I'm going to have to go now. Sorry Megumin, I won't be able to go out with you, my job starts earlier tonight."

Tsch. He should choose his words better. In the evenings on the days where I had still had power, we had taken to blowing up a nearby abandoned castle. I did the blowing up, and Link came so he could carry me home.

"That's fine. How much is this one paying? And when will you get back?" I asked him.

"Well, I won't be back until early tomorrow morning…" He trailed off.

After spending lots of time with him over the past week, I knew him very well by now. Well enough to know that he was hiding something.

"And the pay?"

He fidgeted, but said nothing. My curiosity intensified.

"Well?"

He seemed to come to a decision, and walked over to me. He whispered in my ear.

"Fifteen Million."

My eyes widened in astonishment. Then I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and worry.

"What does this job entail?" 

He pursed his lips, got up, and dragged me outside. We found an street with no-one in it. Then I turned to him.

"Well? What are you going to be doing?"

"I'm going to be working under another swordsman from axel… I think his name was Kyouya.."

He was being very secretive. Ha. I can see right through him.

"What are you going to be doing?" I reinforced.

He seemed to crack. Ha. I win.

"Well, I'm not supposed to talk about it, but I can trust you. Don't tell Kazuma or anybody!"

I nodded.

"Well, the King is going to be visiting axel."

My eyes widened and I motioned for him to continue.

"Him and the princess, Iris, are going to be meeting lord Dustiness at his manor tonight. It is a secret that I could be killed for if anybody hears what I am saying. Me and Mitsurugi Kyouya are going to be guarding the door to the meeting room."

"Why are they going to be meeting?"

"I don't know. That was kept a secret from even me."

"I see."

I thought about it. While Link was still low-level, he was still the most skilled swordsman I had ever met. I had _heard_ of this Kyouya figure, and it was said he was second to none. So it made sense for Link to be serving as his subordinate. I didn't think he was lying.

"Okay. I understand. Tell me about it in the morning when you are allowed to."

Link sighed in relief and we walked back to the guild. Not that there was any reason to, as Aqua had already cleaned our plates for us.

"What was that about?" Kazuma asked.

"Nothing really, Link just wanted to tell me something."

After a night sleeping on a thin mattress that I had recently purchased, I found myself being shaken awake. I groaned.

"Link, it can't be six yet…"

"Megumin!" The person shouted.

"What!?" I sat up and opened my eyes angrily.

I immediately recoiled.

"Kazuma! What are you doing here you idiot!?"

"I came to wake you up, there's-"

"And why do you think I would allow that?"

He looked genuinely confused. The poor baka.

"Link does it every morning…"

"Link isn't a known pervert, unlike the kazutrash before me!"

"I'm not a pervert!"

"Really? I know where you go in the evenings! It's a little shop down an alleyway run by-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." He said worriedly, glancing at a certain Aqua who had just walked in."But that's not why I came here. There is trouble!"

"What occurrence is so bad that you came in here at five in the morning to wake me up!?"

He steadied himself, stood up straight, and said:

"It's Link."

Authors note. I wanted to get this chapter out two days early, but because of unforeseen circumstances (I forgot), you have to settle for one day early. I know that this chapter was not the most exiting, but I wanted to build the world and characters up a bit. I want to include long-term quests as well. Also, don't expect too much from Dustiness's meeting with the king, it is just more story building. Before I do any of my own story arcs, I want Link and company to have a house, and have built a bit of a name for themselves.

One last thing: If you have any constructive criticism you want to leave as a review, please do! I will consider your input gladly. So, anyway, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Until the next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: Hello! There have been new reviews! Nickless has told me that he doesn't like Haruo or the fact that his mind now resides in Link's body. And all I want to say about that is fair enough! Link will just be Link. I included the second personality to add the potential for extra stories (The second ego causing Link to do something that he wouldn't normally do, etc). It won't be a major part of the fanfiction, so you don't need to worry about that much. At this point, I won't be able to completely omit that part, so I apologize if that is what you were wanting me to do. Anyway, thanks for the review, I will definitely consider what you said! Anyway, on to the story!

* * *

 **Part 1 (Megumin):**

" _It's Link."_

I froze as Kazuma told me those two words.

"W-what?"

"Link is in trouble."

I didn't have time to think. I leapt out of bed, put my shoes on, and ran out of the door.

After a minute of running, I came to my senses and stopped. This was when Kazuma caught up to me.

"It's not that type of trouble. He can wait long enough for you to put some clothes on."

I looked down and realised I was still in my pyjamas. I stomped back to the house and put my normal garb on. When I returned, Kazuma was still standing where I had left him.

"Why did you wake me up if he can wait!?" I demanded. This is the mood I get in when I am woken up early, and when Kazuma is being stupid.

"Link has been taken into questioning. His trial will be at nine o' clock. I thought that you would want to know. Also, he has asked for us to attend as his case of defence, along with some magic shop owner you two apparently met about a week ago."

Well. Link did not strike me as the type to be sent to prison. What could he have done? Kazuma interrupted my thoughts.

"We are to meet with him at the prison in an hour." He then left.

I didn't move for a while. When I did, I was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Megumin-san?"

I looked up.

"Nobuyuki-san." I acknowledged him with a nod. I hadn't seen him since Link and I visited his shop to ask about the sword.

"I was heading to the prison to discuss strategy with Link before his trial. I assume that is the reason you are up so early as well?"

I nodded again.

"Would you like to walk with me?"

"Okay," I answered.

A good twenty minutes passed without either of us talking much. It was Nobuyuki who broke the silence.

"I have never seen you so quiet Megumin-san. Worrying about your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend," I muttered.

He chuckled. "Well, even so, there is no need to worry about him. I have met him twice now. I have never met a more noble person. He will be fine. We will prove him innocent together." He smiled.

We arrived at the prison and knocked on the doors.

"State your names, occupation and business." Came a voice on the other side of the door.

"It is I, Nobuyuki the arch-wizard, and Megumin of the crimson demons, with the same class. We are here to talk with Haruo Link, a fast knight, who was accused of murder earlier today."

"Affirmed, your visit was scheduled. Please enter."

The doors opened, which revealed them to be more than a foot thick and reinforced by a steel grid on the other side.

"Please come this way." The voice that had called out to us before turned out to be a woman with dark blue hair, wearing a blue and white suit. She looked like a perfectly typical politician. Link had told me to be wary of politicians. Lawyers, he had said, were some of the most ruthless and intelligent breed of human to exist: a dangerous combination.

After several minutes of walking down damp, dark stone passageways, we ended up at another wooden door. This one was much smaller but still looked sturdy.

The woman, who had introduced herself as Sena, spoke.

"Haruo-Link is on the other side of this door. You are being allowed to talk to him because he has not yet been proven guilty. The reason being that the circumstances of the assault were… strange, to say the least. I will be observing your talk, so as to be certain that you are not conspiring anything… illegal."

She opened the door. Looking in, I saw Link. He had been stripped of his shield, as well as his new armour. Shame, as far as I knew, this was the first job that he used it.

"Hello Megumin-san, Nobuyuki-san, I appreciate that you came."

This struck me the wrong way.

"I wouldn't have if Kazuma didn't wake me up. Wait. Where is Kazuma?"

"Brutally honest as always Megumin-san," Link chuckled. "Kazuma hasn't arrived yet."

I nodded and addressed Link.

"I assume that you didn't mean to kill whoever it was?"

"Of course not!" Link protested, seemingly insulted.

"Well then? What happened?"

Link looked at me, and after a few seconds, spoke.

"Last night, I was tricked into thinking that the kings meeting was about civilian politics." He began.

* * *

 **Part 2 (Link):**

After collecting my sword and putting on my new chainmail, I began walking. I met up with Megumin once more, to say goodbye. Then I headed to the Dustiness manor. I took the scenic route, as there was no need to hurry. My guard shift didn't start for another hour. I arrived at the manor just as it was getting dark. A maid at the entrance directed me to a stairwell going underground. I almost gasped but remembered to appear as professional as I could in time.

The stairway opened up into a large hall. Full of people. At least seventy. But the people weren't the impressive thing. All of the people were knights. Some carried spears, some swords, some were heavily laden in armour, and some travelled light. All of them looked like they could hold their own in any fight.

One of them spotted me, smiled, and started walking over.

He was wearing blue and gold plate armour. It looked _very_ strong and expensive. He had blond hair and grey eyes. A blue jewel, possibly a magical talisman, hung from a band on his forehead. He could only be one person.

"Hello, Mitsurugi-san."

He smiled again.

"It is an honour to be recognised. May I see your adventurers card? It's so that I can confirm that you are not an intruder."

I handed it over. While Kyouya was inspecting it, I looked around the room. There were lots of people here. Too many. I thought that this was a simple guard job. Why are so many knights needed? Are they expecting an army to attack?

"Haruo Link-san, I thank you for coming to join us in protecting the king. I-"

"Drop that."

Kyouya's smile faltered, but only for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"There are far too many people here for simple guard duty."

Kyouya looked impressed.

"You are smarter than you look. Actually, somehow you were the first person to notice. The others just wanted to compare stat and weapons. They seem extremely thick for knights. There are even a few friendly fights breaking out."

"Why are there so many?" I pressed.

Kyouya dropped his voice before speaking.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you. The king will explain to everybody when he arrives." He said. "But before then, what about a spar with me?"

I looked at him closely. From what I had heard of him, there should be no way I could win. But it would be a good way to properly challenge myself, and try my strength.

"Why?" I asked.

He grinned and said: "I can tell that you are not like the rest here."

"On the knowledge that no major injuries are permitted, I accept," I told him.

"Great." He smiled again. He gestured for me to follow. He led me to a rack of wooden training equipment. I understood and stowed the Hylian Shield and Master Sword in my bag. I wasn't able to draw it yet anyway. I was just wearing it for show; to make a good impression.

I selected a standard three-foot sparring blade, and a shield of similar size to mine. Fighting with a sword and shield was my best style, and I would have no chance of winning without it.

Kyouya seemed to have noticed my selection.

"A sword and shield style. Very tradicional, but seldom seen nowadays." He said as he weighed a broadsword in his hand. "But interesting, as your adventurers' card says you are a fast knight. Normally people of your class use a shortsword and their spare hand for magic... I am looking forward to fighting you. Are you done?"

I nodded, and followed him to the middle of the room. On second thought, I turned back and grabbed a bow and a sheath of blunt arrows. In the centre of the room, a space had formed. It seemed that people had caught wind of what was going on, and had parted to let us fight. Whispers broke out in the crowd as Kyouya and I stopped walking and got into a stance on opposite sides of the clearing.

"Mitsurugi-san is fighting!"

"I wonder who it is…"

"That guy doesn't stand a chance!"

"Shall we begin?" Kyouya asked, drawing my attention away from the crowd.

"Of course," I replied.

Kyouya immediately charged at me. My vision tunnelled as I focused on him, blurring my view of the spectators, so I wouldn't get distracted. He swiped at me, but I dodged it with ease by ducking. I kept down and sidestepped. Slashing my sword upwards from the ground, I attempted to get a hit on Kyouya. My efforts were for nothing, however, as he quickly brought his sword round to block it. He then pushed against my blade with such force that my knees almost buckled in this crouched position.

Jumping backwards, I escaped Kyouya's grip. His wooden sword hit the door with a thud, as I left from underneath it. It kicked up some sand as it fell with a thunk. Mitsurugi froze as the shock travelled up his arm. I took this opportunity and jumped forward again, slashing with my blunt sword. Just before I got in range, he looked up with a grin.

 _It's a feint!_

He lifted his leg and kicked my chest. The wind was knocked out of me as I went flying backwards. Kyouya began running at me. This was bad. I would not be able to land on my feet flying at this angle. He would reach me while on the ground, and take the game. I couldn't let that happen.

Still in the air, time seemed to slow down as I sheathed my sword and drew my bow. I fired two arrows in quick succession before landing on my back.

As the first arrow flew toward him, his eyes widened and he sidestepped it. He continued running. He noticed the second one too late and was forced to block it with his sword. This gave me the time I needed to get back on my feet. I knocked four more arrows in preparation.

"One-nil." Kyouya grinned.

"Not for long." I returned his look.

I sent two more arrows his way, but because of this weak bow, he blocked them with ease.

I ran toward Mitsurugi, firing two arrows at him meanwhile. I quickly drew my sword before I reached him. They arrows had thrown him off balance, and I scored a hit on his right shoulder before jumping away quickly.

Kyouya seemed unfazed. He smiled. I really wished he would stop smiling.

"Now we are even again," I told him.

He grinned(sigh) and said:

"You're right."

My attention moved to the audience for the first time since the fight began.

"Wow. He's pretty good."

"Kyouya _did_ challenge him after all"

"Yeah. He wouldn't do that if he were weak."

"Pay attention."

I turned to see Kyouya running toward me again. He swiped, but I jumped backwards several metres, just in time. My feet slid slightly as I hit the ground. That was close.

"Quick reactions." He said. "Just what I would expect from a fast knight."

"Thank you. You are very good yourself." I responded.

"So I've been told." He chuckled. "Care to continue?"

"Of course," I said.

We charged toward each other once more.

* * *

 **Part 3 (Link):**

After that, the fight became a blur. I quickly found that he could overpower me easily in a grapple, so I was striking fast and jumping away, trying to spend as little time as possible within his range. I hit him twice more with the sword with this method. and once with an arrow. But he was obviously still fine.

I, meanwhile, could feel my sweat dripping to the floor. I knew that I could not go on much longer. There was no point in going on anyway. I had achieved what I had wanted to: to try my strength. I raised my hand for attention. Not that I needed to, as everybody in the room had been watching Kyouya and I duel.

"I can tell when I am outmatched. You win." I said loudly, so everybody could hear.

Mitsurugi and I walked toward each other slowly, meeting in the middle of the circle. We clasped hands and shook once. This was when a slow clapping noise began echoing through the room.

"Bravo. _Very_ interesting battle." Said a man from a raised booth in the wall that I hadn't noticed before. Somehow. As for the man, all I could think about him was 'Nice moustache.'

At the sight of him, everybody except Kyouya got on one knee and bowed their heads. Seeing them, I was about to follow suit, but Kyouya stopped me. He held my hand up.

"My King, this is Link. I believe that he is exactly what you are looking for."

My eyes widened as I realised who I was looking at.

"I know. I saw the whole thing. You were just starting as I arrived. I thought it a shame to interrupt."

Kyouya released my hand and bowed. I did the same.

"And while your recommendation is a help, Mitsurugi-san, rules are rules. Link must go through the same trial like everybody else."

"I see, my Lord," Kyouya said.

I cleared my throat. "Pardon me, my lord, but of which trials are you speaking?" I asked nervously.

"You are sharp." The King chuckled. "All will be explained in due time Link-san. So please get up, and put those toys away."

I obliged. The whole room followed suit. Kyouya and I put our practice weapons away and re-equipped our real ones. A useable sword followed the master sword on my back this time.

The king had been hiding the whole time, probably under a spell to make him unnoticeable, and he somewhat agreed that I was 'What he was looking for.'

The said king opened his mouth.

"For those of you who don't know about what happened about a month ago to my daughter," He motioned to a young girl by his side. "I will tell you the story. As I said, about a month ago, she was attacked while out of the mansion. This is a common occurrence within the royal family, as it is everywhere. It would normally not be a problem. However, two of the eight guards who were meant to be protecting her joined in on the attack and killed all of the people in the defence squad, par one. The final guard managed to bring the Iris to safety. As king, I cannot allow this to happen again. As the princess's father, I do not want her in danger again. So, I came up with a plan. What if I had a top knight guard her twenty-four seven? A personal knight, rather than just whoever was available? Somebody strong that I can trust. Using two spells, this is possible. A simple 'Knight' skill, and a bit of magic that will allow you to know whenever a certain person is in danger. The Knight skill I am talking about is, of course, 'Appointed protector." Appointed protector allows you to sign a contract with a certain person, and then teleport to themat will. It is, regrettably, a difficult skill to learn. But it is possible. Mitsurugi-san has proved that to me."

Kyouya suddenly disappeared from beside me. After a second, he re-appeared next to the king.

"So there shall be a tournament."

Everybody looked at the king in surprise. He continued.

"A public event held in the capital, in which the eight strongest knights here are going to participate in a knockout tournament. The winner will receive two-hundred million eris, and become the princess's appointed knight."

I chuckled to myself as I heard this. I found myself fingering the hilt of the darkness-sealing sword on my back. How nostalgic.

"The others who participate will have the opportunity to work in the castle as a standard guard. The appointed protector of my daughter will earn thirty million every month to be on standby. So, obviously, there is plenty of incentive to win."

 _Thirty million!?_ I would be able to buy a house for my party in less than a year! Megumin would want me to win. She loves money. In fact, so do I…

"However," The king interrupted my giddy thoughts. "You may have noticed that I said _eight_ people would compete in this tournament. Excluding Kyouya, who is already my appointed knight, everybody here will have to fight some preliminaries."

I could hear collective gasps around the room. My resolve hardened. I _would_ win. Even if I didn't, it's free exp.

"Everybody here had a token attached to their adventures' card upon entry."

I looked and realised he wasn't lying. It was small and yellow. Enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

"Please detach them and put them somewhere where they are visible. When I say the word, you will begin collecting as many tokens as possible from other people. For each person you defeat, you may take a single token. When there are only fifteen people left, you must give over all of the ones in your possession if you are defeated. When you have no tokens left, you must leave the battlefield swiftly to spectate. No killing or maiming will be tolerated. The last eight people standing shall win."

Yells began flying around the room.

"What about my fifteen million!?"

"What about _my_ fifteen million?"

"What about my mother!?"

The king called for silence.

"If you wish to collect the money you were promised when you were given this quest, you may leave now, and collect it. You _won't_ be competing in the preliminaries _or_ the tournament."

About half of the people left. I would be staying. I wasn't sure about winning, but I could definitely _make_ it to the public tournament. But then I wouldn't get the money, only publicity.

What would Megumin and Kazuma say?

The king's voice rang out, shaking me from my thoughts.

"Begin!"

* * *

 **Part 4 (Link):**

I wasn't ready. Someone charged at me, lunging for the token on my chest. He was slow, however, and I easily sidestepped him. I took his token. I now had two. In the first few seconds, many occurrences like mine had seemed to happen, but there were still at least thirty people in the room. I jumped quickly to my right and swiftly took a yellow disk from a person who was standing there. I jumped away and smiled to myself. Twenty-nine. I got two more in a similar fashion. Then I took the chance to look around.

In the first fifteen seconds, all of the weaklings had seemed to have been eliminated. There were less than twenty people left, and those who were remaining seemed to have taken up a defensive stance.

I heard a sudden twang and a whistling sound. I dodged the arrow just in time. It whizzed past my shoulder, embedding itself in the ground close by. _Close by. The arrow must have come from above to land so near._ I looked up and realised I was right. Somebody was in the air, coming down with a sword in a dagger grip. _To have switched weapons so quickly. Another fast knight._ Instead of blocking his blow, like I could have done, I pivoted on one foot. His blade whizzed close by my back but didn't hit. I continued turning, drawing my blade as I did so. As I came completely round, I held up my sword and swiped sideways.

Unsurprisingly, he dodged.

"You're fast," I said.

My attacker laughed and said. "Faster than you."

I didn't like him. Disrespectful idiot. I gritted my teeth and told him:

"We shall see."

"We shall."

He ran at me and swiped, but I sidestepped. Taking an opening, I jumped forward behind his blade and stabbed. He ducked, then, still crouched, jumped forward on the ground. I was forced to back off as he jabbed upwards and got up. Using the balls of my feet, I counteracted the momentum from when I jumped back to send myself straight back at him. He took a step around me and I passed right by him, however. With my back to him, he tried to take the opportunity to incapacitate me. I crouched and moved to the side, passing under his arm. I then proceeded to jump backwards.

Neither of us had touched each other yet.

"You are indeed fast." He told me.

"Faster than you." I imitated what he said to me earlier.

The baka smirked. "How so?"

I held up the token that I had taken from him.

His smile faltered. "When?... Oh, when you dodged under my arm that last time. Alright then. You win."

I nodded in acknowledgement as he left and then looked around. Barely a minute had passed since the beginning of the preliminaries, but looking around, I could see that we were already in the second part of the tournament. With five tokens, I was not doing so well. Not that it mattered much, because one was all you needed to win. Looking around the room, I could see that there were only ten people remaining. If I was defeated now, it would all be over. I took the Hylian Shield off of my back and got into a defensive stance. All that mattered now was making it to the final eight contestants. The other people in the room seemed to be doing the same. Except for one.

One fast knight looked closely around the room. He observed every remaining person one after another. His gaze fell on a short boy wielding a one-handed broadsword and smirked evilly. I recoiled as he said to the boy.

"Why do you think someone like you deserves to be a knight? You filth. Just because you hold that over-sized sword, you carry yourself with pride you have never earned. I will take that single token you carry"

The man charged at the boy, so quickly that he appeared blurred. A fast knight through and through. The boy screamed as two of his fingers fell to the floor, along with a yellow disk.

The King, who was observing quietly in his booth up until now boomed:

"You are disqualified, sir! How dare you violate the policies of this challenge!?"

The man licked his lips.

"It had to be done my liege. Your rules stated that all tokens must be openly displayed, strapped to a belt or sash of some sort. This worthless filth was holding it hidden in his hands. I apologise for breaking a rule to fight a broken rule." He bowed.

Crap. The king can't go against his own rules. That man broke his law, but he could imprison him without putting the obvious victim to jail. The boy really only deserved to be disqualified, not be put to prison.

The King's face was red with fury. But he had no choice. He sat down and spoke.

"Very well."

I was angry. I don't remember ever getting as angry as I was then. The king may have been powerless to stop this man from leaving the tournament, but I wasn't. I charged. The man sensed me and turned around, slashing with an evil smile on his face.

I knocked his blow to the side with my shield and stabbed the palm of his sword hand. It spasmed, dropping the blade it was holding. I kicked it away. That was easy. Too easy.

The man looked up, with a mock look of defeat on his face.

"Ah well," He said thickly."It seems that you have disarmed me. Not to worry, I see you have two blades. I'll just borrow yours."

I was a skilled swordsman, and warrior, but no-one can rely on natural talent alone. Even though I had been working hard in the time that I had been in this world, I was still at a relatively low level. That was not the truth in the case of this man, unfortunately. I could hardly track him as he moved around me, and I was powerless to stop him as he reached for the second sword on my back.

' _Just borrow yours…'_ His words echoed in my head as he grabbed the hilt of the Master Sword, The Sword that Seals the Darkness, Night's edge: Evil's bane…

His hand tightened around it and he attempted to pull it out of its sheath…

Instantaneously, he was jerked upwards as if by an invisible hand.

"What are you doing!?" The man screamed, "Stop it!"

The atmosphere in the room turned blue. Everyone looked around, mesmerised. Even the person gripped by a divine hand. Except for me, who was frozen to the spot. I was one of only three people in this world who knew what was happening.

The air turned a dark red. My enemy started screaming in pain.

"I surrender! I give up! Let me down! Let me down!"

All of the air in the room seemed to move toward him slowly.

"Let me down! Let me down! Let me down! Let me down!"

The man was almost crying at this point. I wanted to help, but at this point, I was powerless.

"LET ME DOWN!"

All of the mana in the air around him rushed into his body.

Everything returned to normal.

The man collapsed, broken, onto the ground.

Dead.

* * *

 **Part 5 (Megumin):**

"I assume they took the sword away?" I asked.

"No. Everybody was afraid to touch it. Rightly." Link replied.

I got why Link was imprisoned. I had seen the effects of his sword myself. Nobuyuki, who was sitting beside me, had felt them. He, however, was still alive.

"Why did it kill him?" Is what I had asked.

"I have no idea." Link said, looking at the mage to my right.

I followed his gaze.

Nobuyuki was sitting quietly, evidently lost in thought. When he realised that he was getting attention, he looked up.

"That sword is something special. I have never before seen anything like it."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it seems it has a spell cast on it. A powerful one."

Sena, who had been listening quietly behind us, spoke.

"Of what nature?" She asked.

Her curiosity had obviously got the better of her. Nobuyuki looked at her gravely.

"It seems to be a spell of similar nature to the arch-priest skill 'Turn Undead'."

Sena frowned. "That does not explain why Link's opponent died."

I spoke up.

"Sena, aren't you here to here to listen? Stop interfering and watch."

She was starting to annoy me. Acting like she was better than us.

"Forgive her Sena. My friend's mood is… Tempermental." Link apologised.

Sena looked at Link in curiosity.

"I thought you were just another adventurer who disrespects everybody because you think you are better. Even though I am your prosecutor, I must apologise… I think I misjudged you." She smiled. "I can tell you are not a bad person. I hope your trial goes well."

She got up and made to leave. When she was at the door, I called out.

"I thought you were here to make sure that we are not conspiring or something. Why are you leaving?"

"It seems that despite everything…" She smiled again. "I trust your friend. But, may I ask... Tell me what happened that killed that man."

Nobuyuki sighed and spoke.

"It seems that that sword had the power to eradicate all evil out of any being it touches."

Sena's eyes widened. Then her face hardened.

"I have never heard of such a spell. What kind of power are we talking about?"

"I have never felt such power in an item before. It seems like the type of power…"

He drew a deep breath.

"That a God would wield."

Sena's eyes hardened as well.

"I see." She said, and left.

It was then that Kazuma stumbled through the door.

"Am I late?" He asked anxiously.

 **Part 6 (Kazuma):**

* * *

We were in an amphitheatre. There was a crowd of adventurers sitting along the bottom row of stone seats that surrounded the centre on one side.

In the centre, Link was in his normal attire, fault the chainmail and his shield. His fancy, unusable sword was still stowed on his back. He was standing in front of a stone pedestal which had a bell on it. Said bell was split down the centre, with one side being white, and the other being dark purple. There were arms that came up on both sides of a golden bell. One with a bat wing, one with a bird wing. The arms were holding up a small red ball. Presumably, the arms hit the bell with the ball to make it ring. The reason it was there, however, was unknown to me.

We, by which I mean Megumin, Nobuyuki and I, were sitting on a wooden bench to one side of Link. Across from us, on the other side of Link, a rich man was sitting. His reason for being there was once again unknown to me, but he seemed to be important, as he had two armed bodyguards stood slightly behind him.

The Judge sat at a podium in front of Link, opposite the viewers' stands. He was the one who began.

"Let us now begin. As it seems that Sena is not coming, we will start without her. Haruo Link, you are here because you have been accused of the murder of the Tristan-san, the knight of this man," He gestured to the noble. "Dandridge-sama. Link, do you confess?"

"I oppose this accusation."

"What is your argument?" The Judge asked

"The knight that I fought died of misadventure." Link told him.

If the judge was surprised, he did not show it.

"Dandridge-sama, the accused says that your assumption is false and that the death of your knight was accidental. What are your views?"

The noble spoke. Weird voice. He was the type to think that he is the best.

"I have been told that my loyal knight was killed by this man. With some rather demonic magic. I press my accusation."

Nobuyuki the mage stood up beside me. He made to speak, but Link held up a hand.

"Your honour, may I inform Dandridge-sama the reason we were where we were when I confronted the late Tristan-san?"

The judge nodded and gestured for Link to continue, evidently curious.

"I was at the Dustiness Manor, competing for the title of the princesses knight. Tristan-san and I were one of the few remaining in the Battle-Royale style tournament when we engaged."

The noble was shaking with rage.

"You are implying that my knight would betray my trust for a better job?" He asked.

Link turned to him.

"I am."

Link never failed to amaze me. How was he keeping such composure under these circumstances? In fact, Megumin, who was sitting beside me biting her nails, seemed more nervous than he who's life was on the line.

"H-How...HOW DARE YOU!?" The noble spluttered. "Guards! KILL HIM!"

Megumin stood up beside me and shouted.

"NO! If you touch him, I will kill you ALL!"

She lifted her staff, which was resting by her chair.

"Megumin-san, stop." Link addressed her sharply over his shoulder.

"Why, Link!?"

Link turned to face us.

"We don't need anyone else in court. You will be in a lot of trouble if you attack anyone. I, however…" He turned back to the Judge "I assume that if I am attacked before my sentence is legalised, I have the right to defend myself?"

The judge nodded. "Yes, that would be correct."

Link turned his back fully to us and addressed Dandridge.

"You don't want that happening. I promise that that would end badly for you."

The bodyguards looked at their master as if questioning him. Dandridge shook his head.

How!? Even if the noble didn't know, Link knew that he couldn't draw that sword! How was he keeping so calm!?

"That aside, you claim that the victim died of misadventure, but can you prove that argument? There are several witnesses who saw the victim being lifted into the air, and attacked by some sort of mana transformation. Are you suggesting that they are lying?"

Link turned back to the judge.

"Not at all. What you described is exactly what happened."

"Then how do you expect to prove your innocence?"

"Ah, this is where you are missing a crucial piece of information. It is eluding you because it is so obvious."

Dandridge had now recovered from his verbal defeat.

"What bit of obvious information have we overlooked then, smartass?" He demanded.

"I am also curious, I thought I had analyzed everything."

A voice from the crowd shouted out:

"I saw it happen!"

There were several shouts of agreement from the audience, who had, until this point, been silent.

"Hear, Hear."

"Fifty knights saw it, and you are still trying to prove your innocence?!"

Link chuckled and pointed out.

"I am also a knight class. I am incapable of learning such major magic attacks."

This shut everybody up. Megumin's mouth was agape, so it was safe to assume that mine was too. Even Dandridge had been stunned. Only Nobuyuki was stunned for a different reason, muttering something about:

"Idiots, how can they overlook something as major as that?"

The judge recovered first.

"The bell did not ring, so you are not lying. However. At this point, you could easily have passed the blame on to somebody else who is capable of producing such magic. Why did you name the death as misadventure?" The judge asked in curiosity.

"Because that is exactly what it was. There is no point in pursuing this case any further because I know what killed Tristan-san. Nobuyuki-san, could you please explain?"

He stood up beside me.

"The sword on his back is named 'The Sword that Seals the Darkness. It is not called that for no reason. It is enchanted with a spell of immense power. It has the capability to choose its own wielder, and anyone else who tries to draw it will have pain inflicted on them. It also has the ability to eradicate evil. Only when the chosen wielder becomes completely pure-hearted, will it leave its sheath. If somebody attempts to force it out, it will inflict pain on that person, amounts directly tailored to the amount of evil residing in said person."

The judge had been listening to Nobuyuki and questioned.

"Do you have proof?"

"Only that when I tried to draw it, it inflicted severe pain on me."

"And you have a witness?" The judge pressed.

Megumin stood up and said "I saw it happen. Link was standing several metres away when the enchantment took effect."

"During our battle, I disarmed Tristan-san. He then attempted to take the sword that is on my back right now." Link explained.

"That is what killed him." Nobuyuki finished.

The judge looked thoughtful.

"You can't possibly be listening to them!" Dandridge exclaimed.

This made a clamour arise from the crowd, who were, once again, silently watching.

"Exactly!"

"He killed that guy!"

"What about his sentence!?"

"What about justice!?"

"What about my mother!?"

"Silence!" The judge said, banging his gravel. "I have come to a conclusion."

I looked over at Dandridge, who was staring at the judge threateningly.

"I have given my arguments, all I can do is await your answer." Link told the judge.

"I have listened to the arguments, and it is clear to me that you, Haruo Link-san…"

After this, I wouldn't be surprised if Megumin had no fingernails.

I looked over to Dandridge, who was still looking at the judge with an evil, threatening look on his face. The judge finally noticed, and Dandridge made a violent gesture which involved bringing his hand across his throat like a knife.

The judge gulped. He looked back to Link, almost crying. He seemed to be trying to apologise without speaking.

"I pronounce you, Haruo Link…"

I noticed the drop of the honorific.

"Guilty."

Megumin gasped and mouthed 'No.'

"And sentence you to death."

* * *

Authors note: Wow, I finished this one really early. Well done me! Anyway, earlier I got a review saying that my story is well written! Thank you! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know I said in the last one that the king's visit was not going to mean much, but I had a good idea after I published that! So it escalated into this! I hope you don't mind! Anyway, I have not got much left to say, so I won't! See you in the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Authors note: Nikkless has further reinforced his opinion of Haruo. Once again, fair enough. But I do have plans for him, so I cannot get rid of him yet. He pointed out that Link would have won if it weren't for Haruo's interference. Yes, that is true, but it is also one of the reasons he is there. I cannot make one punch man style combat entertaining, so Link can't be an all-powerful knight right at the start of the story, it just wouldn't be interesting. That is why he is there and why he will be staying for now.

Also, I don't know if I made this clear before, but Link began in this world reverted to a metaphorical 'Level 1.' In the world of konosuba, there is a levelling system, so while Link's stats were far above average for a level 1, he would still be a bit of a joke to somebody at, say 'level 50.'

I also have to say something about 'Hate comments,' and what I classify as such. With the first hate review being posted on this fanfiction, I feel like I have to say something about them, so if you are not interested, feel free to skip this part. A 'Hate' comment is whenever a review contains unfounded negative feedback. For instance, a comment saying 'This story is Sh**,' (what I received) is a hate comment. However, a review stating 'I dislike this story because…' isn't. Even 'This story is sh** because…' is better. I am perfectly open to a negative response, as long as I am given a reason why the said response is negative.

The last thing, thank you to 'Awoken Hand' and 'Xenophos24' for your feedback! It means a lot to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own the name Konosuba, it's world, or the characters who inhabit it. Everything belongs to Natsume Akatsuki, except Link, who belongs to Nintendo.

* * *

 **Part 1 (Link):**

" _And sentence you to death."_

I could feel my eyes widening, but I could still feel a part of me that knew it was coming. I looked over my shoulder at Megumin, who looked mortified. She looked like she was about to do something. Crap. That was the last thing we needed.

"Megumin. Don't worry.."

Her words caught in her mouth, and she regained some of her composure. I had to think quick; it wouldn't last long. Despite what I had said, my mind was blank. For once, I had no plan. When I opened my eyes, I could see that Kazuma had a strained look on his face, which proved that he was in a similar situation.

A group of five government guards approached, and I almost panicked. I had seen one of them carrying some handcuffs. I gave myself a few more seconds, desperately trying to think of something. But when the guard raised the cuffs behind me, I spoke up.

"Megumin, Kazuma, please don't get involved."

I span around, slamming the back of my fist into the first guard's head. At the moment in which he was stunned, I grabbed the sword handle by his side and drew it out of its sheath.

It was a heavy broadsword, built more for swinging and slamming than for slicing. It was not what I was used to, but it would do.

I rolled forward, narrowly missing a similar blade that had been swung at me. When I stood up, I span with my sword out. This forced the rest of the guards to back off for a second. I suddenly jumped out and slammed one of them in the chest with the flat of my blade. This knocked him out. I brought a rope out from my pouch. The prison had let me keep it, as it was so small. I put on a bust of speed and wrapped up the final two knights in my rope. With them bound, I made to run out of the only exit.

The thing that stopped me was more guards. At least ten of them. Without my signature style, I would have no chance. I touched the hilt of the master sword on my back hopefully. I quickly withdrew my hand, as a jolt like electricity tortured my hand.

Gritting my teeth, I prepared to make my final stand. I charged but was quickly overwhelmed.

I found myself on my back, with a sword at my throat. When I found myself in this situation, I quickly stopped struggling.

"Ha. Do it then. This is what I get for my incompetence." I told the owner of the blade.

My goal was to make him hesitate with a moment of indecision. He would wonder whether or not to accept my proposition. It didn't work.

"Of course." He said with a sneer.

"That will not be necessary." A deep voice spoke.

I tried to locate the voice, as I had recognised it, but my eyes would not show the owner to me. I could, however, tell who it was by the reactions of those around me. The blade that was so directly threatening my life was quickly withdrawn, and the grip on my wrists was relaxed.

"What do you mean by that, My King?"

My eyes finally focused, and I managed to make out a man with a very impressive moustache indeed. The person who had questioned the King was that idiot Dandridge- _sama._

"This man has been proven guilty of murder. He is to be executed at a later date."

The king smiled.

"Well my Dandridge-san, I disagree. In my eyes, Link-san has proven himself completely innocent." He gestured to Sena, who was standing beside him. "This girl has explained everything to me, and it matches with what Link and his friends have been saying."

I sighed in relief as I heard the king's words. The lesser noble was desperately attempting to contain his anger. It showed.

"The invisibility spell again?" I asked.

"Forgive me Link, I thought it best to observe without interfering. After all, my presence may have altered the behaviour of this man here." He gestured to Dandridge. Who promptly sputtered in confusion. "He has long been suspected of corruption, and after this, I finally have reason to believe it."

Dandridge spluttered again. "What do you mean my Lord?"

"He means that death threat that you just kindly gifted to the Judge," Megumin spoke up.

I shivered. Here eyes were glowing again.

"Maybe the king will give you an execution yourself, seeing as you attempted to have Link-"

"Please calm down."The king spoke. "He will not be executed, but he will be hard-pushed to keep his status as a noble."

Megumin grinned. "Great. Actually, that might be even better."

Wow. Megumin could truly be evil sometimes.

"I'm glad you approve." The king smiled uncertainty. "Well," he then addressed the guards "could you please unhad that knight, and give him back his gear. Then show him to the courtyard. I will meet him there. I must speak with him." The king then left, and Kazuma and Megumin stood up and began making their way towards me.

I felt the grip on my arms release, and the sword was completely removed from my proximity. When Megumin and Kazuma reached me, the former offered me a hand to help me up. When I attempted to stand, however, I buckled in pain and fell back to the ground. With a quick pain assessment, I realised I had broken my ankle in my struggle. The adrenalyn from the moment must have masked the pain until now.

Kazuma instantly seemed to realise what had happened and helped me up again. This time, he crouched, put my arm over his shoulder, and stood up with me. Now I was standing on one leg with kazuma to support me.

 _(a/n: No Homo-It's common practice when somebody hurts their leg.)_

This time it was Kazuma who almost buckled.

"Pheesh. You are heavier than you look." He said.

"Do you need any help?" Megumin asked.

"No! I'm fine!" Kazuma responded.

We struggled a few paces. Kazuma was already out of breath.

"Are you sure?" I said.

"Yes!"

He promptly fell over. The reason I didn't feel anything is that Megumin caught me. Kazuma crashed to the floor, and Megumin promptly added salt to injury.

"Follow us when you catch your breath." She told him smugly.

Megumin and I hopped out of the amphitheatre and travelled through the tunnel leading out to a courtyard.

"Thanks," I told her. "I didn't realise that you were _this_ much stronger than Kazuma."

"No problem." She told me, giggling. "You had better heal fast though. I won't carry you everywhere like this."

Ha. Says her. _She_ wasn't even carrying me.

We met the King, who was waiting in the courtyard after the tunnel. I spoke first.

"I am surprised that you don't have more bodyguards."

The king looked surprised, but his expression relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Ah, Link. I no longer need many, as Kyouya-san will be able to appear by my side whenever he is needed."

"Oh, I forgot."

There was an awkward silence. Megumin startled me when she spoke. I somehow forgot that she was there for a second.

"Why is it that you wanted to say to Link?"

The King also had also seemed to forget that we were there.

"Oh yes. I came to tell Link the details of the tournament. One month from now, you and the other contestants who passed will be escorted to the Capital to compete. There, you will spend a week in the palace, and have full access to the royal training grounds and equipment. On the final day of the week will be the tournament, and the general public will be allowed to watch."

My surprise had kept me silent until now, but when the king had finished, I managed to speak.

"I am still invited?" I asked.

The king smiled. "Of course! You have been cleared of all charges, and were one of the final 8 contestants in the preliminaries!"

I was once again stunned into silence as the king continued.

"I suggest you use this last week wisely… As strong as you are, I think you are underleveled compared to the others?"

The king chuckle in response to Megumin and my silence.

"I look forward to seeing you then!"

* * *

 **Part 2 (Megumin):**

Link spent the next week bed, but he promised that once his ankle healed, he would begin grinding levels. During this time, Kazuma did his best to make strategies with the few skills that we had between us. At the end of the sixth day, Link told me that he was strong enough to walk by himself again. Now we were walking along a cobbled street, on our way to an abandoned castle that we had found, so that I could practice my magic.

The castle was not actually a castle anymore. It had begun as such, but before Link's trial, we had taken to blowing it up each day, so the majority of it had not been left standing. It was nearing seven o'clock, so the sun was close on the horizon. Link had brought a torch, for the case that we would be unable to make it back before dark.

"Thank you for coming with me," I told Link.

"Megumin-san didn't give me much of a choice." Link responded.

"I can't argue with that."

A silence followed, but in no way was it awkward, because Link and I were close enough that we could convey feelings without words. So, just by being in each other's presence, I could tell that something was wrong.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, this past week I have been pretty much useless…"

"What really happened?"

He chuckled. We knew each other too well.

"Ever since I came to this world-"

"-what?"

He had lost me already. Noticing my confusion, he winced.

"I mean… for a while now… I have felt weak. I have attempted to do a few things. Things that should have been easy, but then utterly failing. As a knight, I should have been able to do these things… But I can't." He told me.

This sounded vaguely familiar.

"Can you give me an example?" I asked

He seemed to be thinking for a second.

"I should have been fast enough to prevent that man from attempting to steal my sword. I should have been able to beat those toads without using Aqua as bait. And back when I met you, I should have able to come up with a strategy that didn't endanger your life."

This poor boy was pouring out his heart to me. It was all I could do not to laugh. And his problem was common. I had it too, at one point.

"Ah... it seems that Link has a serious case of Low-level depression," I told him knowingly.

He laughed. Granted, it seemed a little forced, but it was still a laugh.

"Alright then Megumin-san."

We had reached our cliff. Across a valley, there was another mountain, with the remains of an abandoned castle on top.

It was getting dark. This was going to be spectacular. I began my chant, and Link watched.

"On this unholy night,

"let the blackness seek out the light,

"And make redemption futile."

"I am Megumin! My ultimate curse shall compete with the power of the gods!

"Let my fury imbue through the dark, and light up the sky with crimson blaze.

"The earth herself shall tremble before me.

"I will render all to dust."

Giant orange rings had appeared in the sky above my target: the castle. The wind had picked up around me and was whipping my cape up around my shoulders. Link, even after seeing it so many times was in awe. Rightly so.

"EXPLOSION!"

(a/n: That was the first 'explosion chant' I wrote myself, so I apologise if it was subpar.)

The night lit up the usual dark orange. It was so loud, you could not hear a normal sound, only empty noise. It was so large, that it dulled all senses. After a moment, shockwaves could be felt vibrating your joints like an earthquake. A dust cloud was soon blasting out from around the epicentre, and I had enough strength left to lift my hand and shield my eyes, before I fell forward, exhausted.

I could soon feel Link's hands pulling me up, and, after a moment, I was resting on his back.

"What do you think?" I asked him.

"Easily a 95. The shockwave was impressive, and so was the cloud of dust that followed, but the initial burst of flame could have been bigger."

"I would have rated it much the same," I told him.

Then my fatigue got the better of me, and I fell asleep.

When I came to, it was dark. Much darker than it had been before I fell asleep. Opening my eyes fully, I found that Link had stopped to rest ten metres off of the path. He was sleeping to my right, sleeping against a tree. The torch cast an orange glow in the forest, and though shadows were close, I felt perfectly safe for some reason. Oh well. Link's ankle had probably begun hurting again. It _was_ a long way to carry someone after all. Especially when you have an injured leg. There was no hurry. I promptly fell asleep.

* * *

 **Part 3 (Kazuma):**

Where were they!? After waking up, and going to meet Link and Megumin at the guild as we were told, Aqua and I found that Megumin and Link had decided not to show up. Was it not Megumin herself who had told us _'Kazuma, you need to meet us here tomorrow!'_ and _'Kazuma, don't forget again!'_ She herself is late! She was never late! Granted, that was the work of Link. Whenever Link wasn't with her, she was. But he had not planned to go anywhere alone right?

"Hey Aqua. Did Link say he was going somewhere?" I asked.

"He went out with Megumin again last night right?" She said.

True. She made a good point. Link had come to the guild yesterday evening to tell us that he had healed enough to walk. Megumin had wasted no time before dragging him off to explode something.

"It was later than normal when they left. Maybe they are both still sleeping?" I asked Aqua.

"How should I know?"

I grumbled and set off to check. Aqua seemed surprised and sprinted to catch up.

"Kazuma! Kazuma!" She shouted.

"Yes, I'm Kazuma." This was my favourite way to respond to her whenever she did this.

"Why do we need to worry about them!?" Let me finish my beer!"

"Because they are our party members! If you don't care, don't come!"

Tsch. They were our party members, sure, but they had grown on me. They were definitely in the zone where I could call them close friends. I was actually surprised that Aqua was being so cold. Then I remembered something.

"Actually, it's better if you don't come. Go and meet with our new member at the coliseum."

The 'colosseum' was actually a circle of shallow sand twenty metres in diameter. It was used for friendly duels between adventurers. It was a poor excuse for an arena, but it worked.

At my first statement, Aqua looked near ready to cry, but her face lightened at the second part.

"Ah yes. We are meeting a new member today aren't we?"

"If I can find the others, then yes." I paused as Aqua looked at me expectantly. "See you then. I'll bring them if I can find them."

"Okay." She said, and left.

It took a while, but by asking around, I was able to find a shop owner who said they saw a boy and a short girl leaving the town together last night. After a bit of further questioning, I found that yes, they were wearing red and blue, and that he didn't see them return.

After almost an hour of walking, the path turned from cobble to dirt and entered a forest of a sort. Soon, I smelt burned wood. Spotting some red among the tees, I turned off of the path.

It was not long before I came across Link and Megumin, and I could feel an evil grin spreading across my face. They had evidently stopped to rest and had sat against some trees to sleep. During their unconsciousness, however, they must have keeled over toward each other. And now, though it was obviously accidental, they were, with no other words to describe it, cuddling.

Now. I had three options. I could be a good person and leave, pretending I didn't see anything. I could be a good party member, and wake them up, telling them that we had to meet our new member.

But would I follow either of those paths?

Hmmm.

Of course not!

"Hellllooooo guys!" I said.

They seemed to stir a little. I grinned. This _was_ going to be fun. I put my hands to my mouth and yelled.

"LINK! MEGUMIN!"

Instantly, Link's body jerked away from Megumin. Ha. He seemed to have tried to jump up. It failed utterly, however, as Megumin's limbs were restraining him. This happened very fast, and he had only just seemed to open his eyes. He froze, looking at the girl in front of him, who was much slower than he was.

"Kazuma… what are you doing in my room again?" She blinked and saw that it was not a pillow that she was hugging.

They sprang apart. Wow. This was the most emotion that I had ever seen out of Link. I didn't even think that his face _could_ go red. I grinned in satisfaction. All was going well.

"Kazuma! What are you doing you perv?" Megumin yelled at me.

"By calling me a perv, are you implying that you think I watched you acting in a way that…. Well, are you saying you did?

"N-n-n-NO!"

I ignored her and turned to Link, who had frozen, apparently not oblivious of all of the teasing that he had opened himself up to.

"I see that you are not denying anything," I told him.

"H-how could you even s-suggest that…?" He stuttered.

Ignoring him as well, I continued. "I didn't know that you and Megumin were like that…"

"Shut up if you know what is good for you," Megumin said quietly.

Ok. Time to back down. Whispering was a danger sign when it came from her. BUT. Would I really shut up? Of course not!

"You know, maybe when we are buying our house, we will need one less bedroom…"

Surprisingly, Link was the one that knocked me out first.

 **Part 4 (Link):**

* * *

With Kazuma slung over my shoulder by the legs, Megumin and I began walking home. CA conversation started with no awkwardness. We had both silently agreed never to willingly talk about what had just happened.

"You really didn't need to hit him that hard you know?" Megumin started.

"Really? It wasn't that hard." I replied.

"Yeah… He is quite weak when it comes down to it." She stated.

We both looked at Kazuma's limp figure on my back and laughed.

"True., I said.

A silence followed, in which I allowed my thoughts to wander. Kazuma _was_ very weak. Despite this, however, he was quite smart. Maybe I was still better suited for party leader, but Kazuma was coming on. The only thing he lacked to make him a great captain was experience: the one thing that I still had an advantage in in those terms. Also, it had already crossed my mind, but he had pointed out after one quest that the team was badly balanced.

That had to count as something.

"Hey, Megumin-chan."

"Yeah?" She responded.

"Kazuma put you in charge of finding a defensive team member. Have you found anybody?"

"Did I not tell you? We are going to meet her now. Actually, we are a bit late." She said.

"Today!?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, today. Did you not hear me?" Megumin told me.

Hm. That was unexpected. She had probably arranged a date during my time of recuperation. She specialises in defence. This led to another question.

"What is her class?"

"She is a Defensive Crusader and she carries a broadsword. Stress the _defensive_ part though." She explained.

"Why?"

"Because, as far as I know, she has never hit an attack in her life."

Megumin giggled as my eyes widened.

 **Part 5 (Link):**

* * *

"What happened to him!?" a woman dressed in yellow-and-silver armour shouted.

Lovely. Now she wouldn't want to join our party. The woman, who had introduced herself as darkness, would be the oldest member in our party if she were to join, and I believed that she would be a valuable asset.

"Erm… well, he-" I began, but the crimson mage beside me cut me off.

"-He had it coming."

"Doesn't surprise me in the least."Aqua giggled.

We had met our future member in the coliseum, but Kazuma had not yet regained consciousness. This obviously looked pretty violent, and led to some confusion on the part of Aqua and Darkness. Darkness had a red face however, and could be heard muttering to herself.

"Being attacked by your own team member…" She was breathing heavily by now. "And being dragged shamelessly across town!"

"Are you okay?" Megumin asked, her face blank.

"Eh!? Y-yes…" She had only just seemed to realise that she was thinking aloud.

"Darkness, we are here to discuss your entry into our party. Megumin tells me that you specialise in defence?"

She jumped forward, putting her face right in front of mine.

"YES! Please don't hesitate to use me as a wall whenever you need to!"

That was unexpected.

"Umm… I can't do that…" I told her slowly, while backing away.

"Why not?" Megumin asked.

"Well… because…" I looked at her. "I'm not going to hurt someone who is standing there, wanting to get hurt!" I exclaimed.

"Better than someone such as me, who doesn't want to get hurt."

"But I would never hide behind you!" I replied indignantly.

"Good, you don't need to. You can hide behind her." Megumin said, pointing back to Darkness.

"That's not the point…" I trailed off. "Okay, it might be the point."

Megumin turned to Darkness.

"You're in." She said.

"What? No test or anything?" She responded in surprise.

I suddenly jumped forward again, hitting Darkness on the head with my sword sheath. I returned to my spot. She didn't seem to have felt much, as she held a spot on her head, annoyed.

"There is your test. Kazuma is still knocked out from a blow like that. That makes you better than him."

"At least hit me harder!" She told me.

Ah. I had misjudged the reason that she was annoyed.

"In fact, what kind of test was that!? Duel me!"

She charged at me, but I dodged.

I deposited Kazuma at a bench beside the arena. Megumin joined him.

"Why?" I asked.

"To test me!" She said.

Oh no. She was breathing heavily again. She had already been accepted, so I might as well finish this quickly.

I jumped in, hit her hard on her right shoulder, and dashed out again. The fight should have already been over. I had attempted to bruise her badly on the collarbone, so she shouldn't have been able to lift a sword properly for a couple of days. But when I struck her, she let out a squeal of bliss.

I had no doubt left in my mind that there was something wrong with her. After her outbreak, I backed away in alarm. She smiled.

"It's my turn now." She told me, then charged.

I could have said that the force behind her blow was lethal, and that it was only my sheer skill that kept me alive. I could have said that my lighting-fast reaction times saved me from being cut in half. But I won't.

Because that would be lying.

I tensed, ready to dodge, but my opposition missed her swing by several feet. I backed away, sure that some subtle trickery was afoot, but there was no subtle trickery to be found. She had genuinely missed. She moved to attack again, but her stab was wide. Once again, I didn't have to move. Out of curiosity, I let her have one more free shot. Her blade came nowhere near me. Does she miss every shot? I recalled Megumin telling me something along those lines.

Darkness launched another blow at me. It was not needed, but I sidestepped her. With a new opening, I slammed the hilt of my sword against her back. Once again, this should have incapacitated her, but she didn't even seem to feel that I had hit her. Her armour was too thick.

She hadn't hit me yet, but if this went on as it was, I was on a route to lose. It was turning into a battle of attrition, and I would no doubt run out of energy before her. I didn't want to lose. I was impressed, but losing to someone such as Darkness would not help my reputation. I had two options.

"You have already withstood two blows that should have at least knocked you out. You are more than allowed to join our party. I will ask you to join." I told her.

I had not expected that to work, and it didn't.

"As much as I am grateful for your praise, we shall fight until the match is over." Darkness told me.

Tsk. I was going to have to show off. Oh well.

"Then I will have to end this."

God. I hated saying things like that. It made my ego sound bigger than Darkness's breasts.

It was my turn to charge, and during my dash, I fired one arrow. Of course, she barely felt it, but there was enough force behind the shot to knock her off balance. I was heading slightly to the side of Darkness's body, and, as passed, knocked her already-stumbling legs out from under her from behind. Still moving, I caught her, and brought my blade to her neck.

"The match is over." I told her.

Her face was completely red, and her breathing sounded like she had just ran a marathon. In her battle armour. She looked up at me.

"Pwease let's go on…" She said breathlessly.

"You are turned on aren't you?"

This snapped her out of her mood.

"I am not!"

I let go of her, and she crashed to the ground.

"Ahhhhhh!" Let's just say that was not a scream of surprise.

"Right."

I walked over to Megumin and Kazuma. The latter had woken up, and he asked me.

"Why did you ask a Masochist to join?"

"Because she is what we are looking for." I told him. I then turned back to Darkness and said "Meet us every day at the guild, seven o'clock, so we can go questing. If you want a day off, tell us beforehand."

"Thank you for letting me join. I will work hard Link-san."

* * *

 **Part 6 (Link)**

"What took you so long? You are half an hour late." Darkness told me as soon as I walked in.

Her eyes then focused on Megumin, who I was essentially dragging along. "Ah," She said. "I see."

Megumin had refused to get up today, saying things like _'We already have enough money right?'_ and _'We have a new member, so you can lose me for today.'_ It ended in me forcing her out of bed, with the help of another adventurer who was still in the stable. Megumin was surprisingly strong.

"Sorry. We are here now." I told Darkness.

"That's okay. While I was waiting, I was forced to endure the taunts of my fellow adventurers…" She said, her voice trailing off toward the end and her breathing became more laboured.

Fortunately, Aqua and Kazuma had just arrived, so I had an excuse to ignore her. They walked in the door in a similar fashion to that that Megumin and I followed.

"Why can't you make yourself useful for once? The only thing that you are good for is bait!" Kazuma's yelling was easily audible.

"KAZUMA IS TOO MEAN! I AM USEFUL!" Aqua shouted, crying.

I was about to tell Kazuma to stop, and Aqua to calm down, but Darkness beat me to the opening.

"Kazuma-san should feel free to beat me with his verbal lashings if he wishes." She informed him.

Kazuma just looked at her blankly.

"Say what?"

Darkness quickly corrected herself. "Never mind, we didn't properly introduce ourselves yesterday. My name is Darkness, a crusader of the eris cult who specialises in defence." She said, holding out her hand."

Kazuma warily shook it, "Satou-Kazuma, an adventurer, and the leader of this party."

Darkness looked surprised. "Leader? I thought that…" She looked at me.

I shook my head, and gestured to Kazuma, confirming his statement.

"Okay then…" She said.

Aqua spoke up. "Speaking of yesterday, why were you knocked out Kazuma? I forgot to ask."

Kazuma's expression changed inhumanly quick. It began as a look of smugness, then changed to surprise, realisation and then finally, his signature evil look.

"Well you see," He began. "These two here-"

"-let's go have a look at the available quests," Megumin said, interrupting him.

A sigh of relief escaped my mouth. That was close. It wasn't a perfect cover however, because Darkness was looking at me suspiciously. I locked a gaze with her, which caused her to look away.

"What about this one?" Megumin asked me.

It was a sheet with a hand-drawn picture of a draconic-like creature. The caption read _'Slay a wyvern that is threatening local livestock.'_

"Can you kill it in one hit with your explosion?" I asked her.

"If I can hit it." She responded.

"We are not doing that one." Kazuma said."Let's try to complete a quest without the use of Megumin's explosion."

"Then what about this one?"

Kazuma didn't even look before saying "No."

He continued to speak. "We are doing this one."

It was the toad quest. Spare me. Megumin seemed to be having familiar thoughts.

"Not the toads. Why the f*cking toads?" She muttered.

Megumin, Aqua and I attempted to convince Kazuma to rethink, but when DArkness took his side, our fate was sealed.

A slimy Megumin, a crying Aqua, an aroused Darkness and an explosion later, we were walking back to the town, having killed seven more of the beasts. We took our routine trip to the baths, as we normally did whenever we took _that_ quest. Except we stayed longer than normal. Apparently, it was even harder to calm aqua down this time. Afterwards, Megumin and Aqua went to pick up the reward, Darkness went who knows where, and Kazuma and I left together. He apparently wanted to 'Show me something.' We had already been walking for at least half an hour before either of us spoke.

"So, I found out about this shop a while back…" He bagan. "I wasn't going to tell you, but because of a change in circumstances, I thought that you might be in need of it…"

I wasn't aware that I was in great need of anything. I was curious, but for some reason, I also felt as if I was rowing into dangerous waters.

"Yes?" I asked. The evil expression on Kazuma's face was not helping.

"Do you know about Succu-"

He was interrupted by a siren, and Luna's voice through some speakers attached to a nearby lamppost.

"Verdia, a dullahan, and general in the Devil King's army, had appeared out of the main gate! All adventurers, please make your way there!"

They say a Knight should never be without his armour, but I was caught off guard in a civilian shirt and shorts. Kazuma seemed to be having the same thought. We looked at each other, nodded, and ran back to the baths to use their changing facility. When we arrived, I chucked Kazuma's equipment toward him, and we changed in less than a minute, which is saying something when you are talking about chainmail and shoulder plates.

There was an unspoken thought that was obviously running through both of our minds. That we might be too late. As one of the strongest Knights in axel, I was responsible for arriving on the scene first, and defending the city. However, there were many capable knights in the city. Our main problem was stopping people before they do anything rash. More specifically, one exploding crimson demon.

When we arrive at the gate, we were forced to slow down, as there was a massive crowd of adventures there. While we were dodging through them, we heard a voice that we could only assume to be the dullahan's speaking.

"So please refrain from using explosion maging on my castle for a few weeks."

Ah. That was _his_ castle. Oh well. It seemed that he was being quite reasonable about it at least.

"I cannot." Another, more familiar voice spoke. "Us crimson demons must release our explosion magic at least once a day, or we will die."

"I have never heard of that before! Stop making up convenient lies!"

"Oh no!" Megumin's voice said mechanically. "I haven't used explosion today!"

As we cleared the crowd, we saw Megumin standing with darkness and Aqua in front of Verdia. She was clutching her throat as if choking. She fell to her knees, clearly badly pantomiming dying.

"But wait! I still have some mana!"

"EXPLOSION."

'Oh well.' I thought as Verdia lit up orange. There goes our chance of a peaceful ending.

As the smoke cleared, and Megumin fell to the ground, the dullahan got up.

"YOU CRAZY CRIMSON DEMONS DON'T KNOW THEIR PLACE!" He yelled. "WHAT IS ACTUALLY WRONG WITH YOUR CLAN!?" He then looked at kazuma and I. "AND YOU TWO SHOULD HAVE MADE MORE OF AN EFFORT TO STOP HER! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT HURTS!?"

I guess that in his anger, he didn't realise that we had tried, we were just too late. By Megumin's standards, it was a small explosion, but it was still enough to enrage him.

Verdia's visible eye turned from blue to red, and he spoke again. Quietly this time.

"It seems I have to teach this town a lesson."

* * *

Author's note: Well… that's the chapter done. My target upload day will be sundays if you didn't know before. I am using a new spellcheck software, so I apologise if there are any wierd punctuation errors. I feel like this chapter was the worst of the four. I don't know exactly why, but it wasn't very exciting compared to the others in my opinion. Oh well, next chapter is going to be the most action-packed of all of them, so hopefully, it makes up for this one. Even so, I hope you enjoyed it, and, as always, any feedback is welcome. Until the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Authors note: Thank you to 'Xenophos 24' for pointing out your opinions about the last chapter! When I omitted any awkwardness between link and Megumin, I was trying to make the point that both of them had decided to pretend that nothing had ever happened. I'm sorry if that didn't make a lot of sense! This chapter may be a little shorter than the others because I don't want to make a cool scene boring by dragging it out too much. Anyway, on to the story!

* * *

 **Part 1 (Link)**

 _Verdia's visible eye turned from blue to red, and he spoke again. Quietly this time._

" _It seems I have to teach this town a lesson."_

He charged at Megumin with the intent to kill, but I had reached her in time. I raised my Hylian Shield and blocked his attack outright.

"That's a nice shield," Verdia told me.

"Thanks," I responded. I drew my sword and took a swing with it, but he dodged.

"You can't fight the final boss first." He told me.

"It was you who attacked, "I pointed out truthfully.

"Shut up." He advised me, then snapped his fingers.

As Verdia backed off, several undead monsters rose out of the ground. They resembled zombies. Their limbs were pointing out in odd directions, and their faces were badly deformed. It gave the impression of a body that had been ripped apart and crudely put back together using Flex Tape.

They began running toward us. Kazuma picked up Megumin and ran. Aqua followed as Darkness and I stood our ground. Before the undead reached us, however, the entire crowd turned, seemingly drawn toward those who were fleeing.

"Why are they coming for me!?" Aqua yelled, "I've been a good girl!"

"Why are they going for you!?" Darkness yelled, "I've been a _really_ good girl."

In an attempt to save Aqua, I dashed forward and around the hoard in order to intercept them. I stood in front of them and held my sword out in a defensive manner. I hit a few of them in the head with arrows before they reached me, and when they did, I took out a few more with a spinning attack. All my effort to get their attention was worthless however, as they continued to run by me as if I was not there. If I were to continue running after them and taking out a few at a time, the fight would last forever. I also would likely be unable to continue fighting for so long.

"Stop running Aqua!" Kazuma's shout interrupted my strategising. He looked at me.

"Link I need you to-"

"I know!" I shouted back.

How did I miss such a simple strategy? Kazuma grabbed Aqua and held her in place, which did not appear to be an easy task seeing as he was already carrying Megumin. I reached them, with the hoard close behind me. The first one to reach us fell to the ground, apparently missing a headpiece, and any other one of the creature also died whenever they came close.

It was not long before it became apparent that the zombies were not _completely_ mindless, as they had stopped listening out so carelessly. Maybe they had noticed that not one of them had succeeded in reaching Aqua, who was currently cowering in fear a bit behind me. I turned around to shout comfort to her. This forced me to notice one of the beasts very close to her. It was already reading it's claw-like hands to attack. I ran to save her, but it was useless- it was obvious that I would not make it in time.

"Aqua!" I shouted in warning.

That was when the creature was cut down by Darkness. My eyes widened in surprise.

"You hit that shot!" I pointed out.

Darkness just shook her head slowly in bewilderment, evidently just as surprised as me.

She then opened her mouth to shout:

"Look out!"

I was quick enough to spin around and cut down the monster that was raising its talons behind me. Darkness and I closed in on the group consisting of Kazuma, Aqua and Megumin, with our backs to them. We easily cut down any monster that came near us. Darkness and I made a good team. I was hacking and slashing through the zombies while my second took care of those who decided to attack from the other side. Soon enough there were few left, and Darkness and I could move away from the people we were protecting. When we finished off the last few, I heard a loud cheer arise from the direction of the city.

I had forgotten about the large crowd of adventurers that were still gathered by the city gate.

"That's the way to do it!"

"Show that boss who's boss!"

"You have not won!" Verdia's voice somehow cut through the roar, and everyone quietened down again. "I'll admit that I didn't expect you to kill all of my minions, but you still have no chance against me!" He turned to Darkness and me. "Knights of Axel, face me if you dare!"

 **Part 2 (Darkness)**

* * *

I needed absolutely no encouragement. I charged straight at the Dullahan with my sword ready. I went in close and swung at him.

It was great to be able to finally hit my shots. Though I loved being a wall, there was nothing quite like an intense clashing of swords.

Unfortunately, it was exactly that that did not happen. It was still closer than usual, but I missed by a few inches. I wasn't surprised. I should have known it would not last. With my missed shot, I was open up to a deadly swipe from Verdia's massive broadsword. I closed my eyes in anticipation for a blow that never came. Link had jumped and intercepted his blade with a shield parry.

The dullahan's sword seemed to bounce off the surface of the shield, and Verdia strained to stop it from hitting himself. Link and I landed at the same time, but while I stayed put, my combat partner retreated several metres. I had never understood the appeal of shields. To me, they just seemed like a barrier between the user and enemy attacks.

Verdia swung his sword low to the ground, and Link easily jumped it. I stepped back because I valued my lower legs. The dullahan was faster than anticipated, however, and was able to swing again, slamming the flat of his blade into my chest. I slid back a good ten metres. Looking down to inspect the damage, I saw the beginning of a bad crack right where the sword was slammed. It felt good to be hit like that, but I would be in trouble if my armour broke.

The dullahan jumped forward and attempted to finish me, but Link blocked him again.

"Try not to get hit." He told me.

Did he think I didn't know that!? It was unfortunate, but It would be actually dangerous to get hit this time. Verdia swung again, and I dodged alongside Link this time, and we ran behind his blade and let loose a flurry of swings. Verdia slid backwards a little, but not much, and he was fast enough to counter with a jab. I went flying backwards again and slammed against a tree. My armour had saved me from drawing blood, but, as I slid down the tree, my breastplate cracked in two, and fell to the ground.

"Leave this to me!" I could hear Link yelling.

How could I do that? My party member and friend was fighting for his life. I watched him dodging and parrying for a few seconds, but he was getting tired, as his movements were getting slower. I _would_ help.

I slowly got up, using my sword as support, and lumbered over to the intense fight between Link and Verdia. It was for nought, however, as I was instantly blasted backwards again. With no breastplate to protect me this time, the wound was severe. I hit the floor, and coughed, spraying the ground with blood. I got up again. _Please, I need the power to protect my friends_. Subconsciously, this is what I had thought as I charged again with my sword outstretched.

A golden light enveloped me, and I could feel my pain momentarily disappear. My sword glowed in the same pale-gold aura. I was running faster, and I seemed to have no control over my body. I could move it, but it was as if somebody else was guiding me. For a second, I could see the silhouette of a young white-haired girl in a dark blue dress. She smiled and left.

I jumped as I saw Verdia's eye widen in surprise. But, for the first time, I saw a bit of fear there. Then I slashed downwards, slamming him right down the chest, the following dust cloud blasted Link and me backwards. We both landed on our feet, but I promptly fell to my knees. My strength had left me, and my chest was in agony, that unknown power having masked the pain of several broken ribs. Link rushed to my aid, picked me up, and brought me to the crowd so that I would not be in danger, just in case our job was not done.

As Link was rushing me away, the dust cloud cleared. A small crater had been left in my attacks wake. The dullahan could not have survived that right?

The body slowly got up. He was genuinely angry now, and his armour had a bad gash down the front of it. No. _NO._ I struggled to get out of Link's grip but failed. No. I blacked out.

 **Part 3 (Link)**

* * *

I didn't know what power darkness had just awakened, but I knew now that it wasn't enough.

"If you still think you can beat me, you may try." Verdia said "But I cannot guarantee your life. Or, rather, I'll make sure you die. Then I will go and kill that cursed Crimson Demon, and that useless crusader."

"You do like to talk, don't you?" I said. I don't know where my burst of confidence came from, but it was there. I pointed my sword at him. "If you threaten my friends, I won't give up until you are slaughtered."

The crowd began cheering again.

"That's the way to do it!"

"We can beat them together!"

"Yeah! Let's go!"

I had never rallied an army before. In past quests, I had always fought solo, or, at most with a single partner. I left Darkness with Megumin and some medics and joined Kazuma. Now, however, people who had earlier been apprehensive to engage seemed to take inspiration at Darkness's sacrifice, and everybody was drawing their weapons.

We led the charge together, along with Aqua There were at least forty other close-range fighters behind us as we ran. We were being closely followed by the Magicians and priests of the town, who were already casting defensive and supportive spells over us. I felt my speed temporarily amplify, which was just as well, as we had reached Verdia. He seemed to notice that he was in some actual danger this time; When Kazuma and I stabbed at him, he dodged rather than just tanking our hits.

Verdia made to counter-attack but was forced to abort as several other adventurers had attacked him. It was futile, however, as not a single one hit. Though we had done no major damage, we still had the advantage, as more and more people kept on piling in.

From the sheer number of attacks being launched, we had hit the Dullahan several times.

"Keep the pressure on him! Don't let him attack!" I shouted.

Nobody needed any encouragement. With our rate of attack, we were doing severe damage to Verdia, and nobody on our side had been struck yet. Whenever the Dullahan found a split second to launch a strike with decent power, his blade glance off of a glowing hexagon that appeared in the sky; it quickly absorbed the move. The Mages were doing their mentally assigned job with casting shields. The Mages… While we were launching our volley, we had left them unprotected. I turned around and saw another hoard of summoned undead approaching them. I ran to try to help them but was too late.

For some reason, the zombies did not kill the Magic-users, only restrained them. The answer to this was dealt to me as soon as it happened. I felt all of my power leave me as the buffs granted to me vanished. It took all I had not to fall to my knees.

Hearing the ruckus behind me quiet down, I turned to see the problem. Verdia had managed to leave our bombardment: he was standing thirty metres or so from the crowd.

"Give up." The dullahan spoke. "While your effort was impressive, I was only measuring your power. If you were to attack again, you would all die. Even if you were in a condition to fight."

Kazuma and Aqua had walked up to me. And I felt the former's hand pressed against the back of my neck. I was about to ask what he was doing, but then a barely audible hum began to sound, and I could feel my power returning. In front of us, however, everyone began falling from exhaustion. After a few seconds, only five remained.

As they charged, It was clear to see that they were moving slowly. I made to yell, but couldn't for fear of drawing Verdia's attention to Kazuma's drain touch.

Verdia threw his helmet in the air, and an orange circle, similar to Megumin's explosion one appeared in the air above him. The people who were charging stood no chance. As they moved into the area of effect, they slowed down drastically. But Verdia was moving at a normal speed, almost lazily, he cut them down.

This time, I did cry out, and stood up, drawing my sword again. The dullahan looked at me in surprise.

"Ah, I see that Wiz has been interfering again. No matter. You are strong, Link-san is it?"

I nodded.

Verdia raised his hand and began gathering dark magic in it.

"You were a worthy fighter. I am sorry." He shot the ball of dark energy at Megumin, who was still on the ground where I had left her. I almost cried out as it hit her, but nothing seemed to happen. I turned my attention back to the Dullahan, who answered my look of confusion.

"She will die in three days." He said. "I have cursed her."

My eyes widened in fear, then dilated in anger.

"How dare you?" I whispered.

"It is my regret, but a friend told me that you will be the one to defeat my master in the future, so I must end you now."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" I shouted as I charged. I was still weak, however, and could do little to resist as Verdia cut me in half.

 **Part 4 (Kazuma)**

* * *

To watch the death of a fellow human being is unimaginable. To the point that explaining it is useless, as anybody who hasn't experienced it will find it impossible to conceptualize the feeling. Many will never recover from the trauma of watching someone lose their life, and become depressed, or worse, insane. Watching a close friend die is somehow worse, and anyone who hasn't been exposed to _that_ would surely rather die themselves.

But watching Link's body, now in two parts, fall to the ground, was not only a curse on the mental being of Aqua, me, and especially Megumin but was also spelling almost certain doom for all other the other adventures of the town.

"Aqua." I managed to say.

"Y-yes?" She replied, her voice shaking.

"Go to Megumin, and don't let her out of your sight. Not just today, I am talking until I say to stop!"

If Aqua was intrigued at all by my instructions, she didn't show it. She nodded and hurried over to the crimson-demon's side. Megumin's head was down, and she hadn't said anything since verdia had cursed her. I looked up at the dullahan.

There was no point, and compared to Link's and Darkness's efforts, I was slow and useless.

I swiped at Verdia.

He grabbed my blade with his hand, ripped it out of mine and snapped it in half.

"Compared to the person that you are attempting to avenge, you are weak." He said. "I may be a leader in the devil-king's army, but I like to think that I am honourable. You cannot face me. And I will not slaughter an unworthy foe with no reason. If you want to at least save the demon-girl, you can lift the curse by killing me. Make a strike squad, train them and come to me before her time is up."

I did very little to resist as Verdia turned off and galloped away. Looking around, I could see that the feeble resistance the guild had put up had been utterly destroyed. With most of our force seriously injured, or out of action for other reasons, I could tell that Axel really was a very weak town. There were almost ten casualties, including Link.

Aqua carried Megumin over.

"Kazuma, as an archpriest, I can regenerate fallen friends."

I whirled around.

"What!?"

Megumin had also finally spoken and joined in on my shout.

Having regained some of our energy in hope, we went over the nearest fallen knight.

Aqua leaned over him, and began chanting, holding her hands over his chest.

A blue light shone, and after a few seconds, the man sat up, apparently confused. Rubbing his head, he asked:

"What happened?"

"No time to explain!" Megumin shouted, and, apparently able to walk again, dragged Aqua over to Link's corpse.

Upon reaching him, however, Megumin sank to her knees.

"Go on then. Heal him." She said.

Aqua followed suit after Megumin and began chanting again. As before, a blue glow erupted from her hands. Megumin covered her eyes.

After several minutes, the glow stopped, but megumin still refused to open her eyes.

When she finally did, it was because Aqua poked her.

"It's not working." She told her gently.

 **Part 5 (Link)**

* * *

I regained consciousness lying down, with my legs curled up toward my body slightly. It was not on my hay bed that I was lying however, as this surface was smooth, cold and hard. There was no wind, but instead a smooth thin, atmosphere. It was very cold, and in the few minutes that I was conscious, I kept my eyes closed, trying to remember what had happened for me to land in such a place.

Verdia had attacked axel, and cursed Megumin.

I then swore to kill him, but fell when I charged. He had cut me in half.

So I was dead?

I could assume as such.

With this fact established, I concluded that I was back where I had started. The limbo between the afterlife and the mortal realm, where Aqua had explained my situation to me and sent me to the world of the Devil King.

I finally opened my eyes and found that I was wrong. I was in a strange place, as if I was standing on a thin sheet of glass over the world. Axel was splayed under me like an intricate, three-dimensional map.

In front of the city, I saw the cities entire battle with Verdia. The zombies harassing Aqua, Darkness and I working together, then leading an army.

While we were fighting, it had seemed that we were putting up good resistance, but here, while watching the drama unfold in third person, it was obvious to see that we were fighting a losing battle from the start.

Verdia was obviously a lot more powerful than he had showed us before.

I watched for several minutes. It was when Darkness fell that I heard a voice behind me. It was very familiar, but yet, I could not place it.

"This is not a replay." The voice said.

Turning around, I saw the owner of the voice. With messy brown hair and eyes, he looked a little younger than me. I knew him. Before, he had looked like a child, but even though his appearance had not changed, his very presence demanded a sort of respect now. He appeared kind, however, and his demeanour was that of somebody who was addressing an old friend

"Haruo," I said.

The boy smiled.

"Link."

We sat and watched the battle unfold below us. When it was over, time continued below in Axel. It grew dark, and the moon rose.

"Link. That was not a recording and replay of the battle." Haruo eventually spoke.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Everything that we just watched was happening in real-time, as we were watching it."

This did not help. I had lived that reality, then watched it in third person. This, at least is what I had believed. I gestured for Haruo to elaborate.

"I have something to explain. For an open-minded person such as you, it should be easy enough to take in." Haruo began. "I assume you know something about the dimensions of the universe?" Seeing my blank expression, he continued. "What is important right now are the first five. I will now explain them to you. It begins with zero. Dimension Zero is a fixed point in space and time, with no length, width, volume or weight. It remains still in the first four dimensions." He lifted up his finger, and tapped it in the air, making a hovering white pencil dot in the air. He then extended it into a line.

"An infinite number of these are combined to make the first dimension, a line, which is once again, still in the first four dimensions. It is but a conditional. It serves no purpose in the first four dimensions, except to make up the second, and then, in turn, the third. An infinite number of lines (the first dimension) are combined to create the second dimension, a plane. This plane can have a fixed perimeter, but, even so, is always infinite in the fourth dimension: time, as time will always expand onward. The second dimension is the base for all matter"

So far, I had managed to hang on to what he was saying. In simpler terms, infinite points make a line, infinite lines make an infinite, empty plane.

"The third dimension is also a fixed point in time, but not space. The third dimension is the place where matter can be physically manifested. Physical matter such as a tree, or a house." Haruo said. "Are you following?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Now is where we get to the fourth dimension, time. Time expands finitely into the past, and infinitely into the future. It is made up of the third dimension being changed by dimension zero and one, which are constantly changing in the fifth dimension." He said. "Do you understand?"

I tried to make sense of everything he had said.

"So the world as we know it is dimension zero through four? And the way it turned out depended on dimension zero, the starting seed?" I asked.

"Essentially, yes."

"But what is this about the Fifth dimension?" I asked.

"The fifth dimension: probability. One that we can never even hope to fully understand. For every tiny thing that happens in one world, another point in dimension zero is born. In your words, another 'seed' is planted, birthing a new universe. These are dimensions that are almost identical at the begging, but can drastically change over time. For instance, if you had the money for either a sword _or_ a shield, and you chose the sword, there is an entire other reality where you chose the shield."

"It's very confusing, but how does this help me?"

"I'm not finished. Whenever matter outputs an energy output, these probability layers of reality are warped. To the point where the layers can collide if the force is strong enough. We are now on a probability plane just above the one you just left. The thing outputting such energy is your sword. It seems it has transported you to this layer, where I have been living, forced to watch, but not interfere. It literally ripped a hole in reality."

"So it was accidental?" I asked.

"Yes, and it was _very_ improbable. But now you may have a chance to save Megumin."

"How!?" I instantly lost my composure it this statement.

"Well. Your body in that world is dead, and the gods demand a soul to keep order." Haruo said.

"Does Aqua care that much?" I asked, surprised.

"Not Aqua. She is a god of this world. She is also a joke compared to the gods of the universe itself." Haruo said.

"So how can I still save Megumin-chan?"

"It will require a sacrifice, and I am willing to go in your place," Haruo stated, his body glowing gold.

"Why?"

"I seem to care as much about your friend as you do. It's not surprising really, I am you. I guess this is farwell." The light was dissolving now, along with Haruo.

"How did you find all of this out?"

"Time flows differently here." Haruo chuckled. "I have had an eternity to observe the universe. I like to think that I have learned a thing or two."

The gold light dissolved, and I was left alone. I could feel a single tear running down my face. I was not one to cry, but I had lost a part of me. Literally.

I reached into my bag, took out the Master Sword, and Hylian shield, and stowed them on my back.

Unlike Haruo, my exit out of this world was fast. A quick crack was audible, and I found myself back on the battlefield.

 **Part 6 (Link)**

* * *

I was standing in the crater that Darkness had made. I looked down, seeing my body intact. Somehow, my new body was exactly like my old one. I was even wearing the same armour, except… Yes. My shoulder pads were much heavier. Pure adamantite.

I bagan walking. When I reached the city, I took to walking in the shadows. Everybody thought I was dead, and it would be convenient to keep it that way for the time being.

I reached the stable where Megumin and I were staying. Upon entering, I took a pen and paper, and wrote a message. Leaving it under her pillow, I thought I saw her eyes flutter for a second. I left in an instant through the window, and hid under the frame.

Megumin had woken up. She sat up looked, around for a second, and began crying. I watched her crying until she eventually fell back to sleep. If she hadn't, it might have ruined everything.

I had to do this alone.

I promptly left the city again, and began walking along Megumin's explosion route. For the first time, however, that it was pitch black. This made the dirt path surrounded by forest a very eerie place. For some reason, however, I felt completely at peace.

When I reached the cliff where Megumin and I exploded things I got out a rope.

I tied one end around a tree, and in a matter of seconds, had abseiled down the cliff into the valley. Five undead birds flew at me, but before they could even cry out, I shot them down.

I reached the other end of the valley fairly quickly, and began my climb up to the castle on the other side. It was quite a long climb, easily two-hundred metres, but I completed it in under five minutes.

I had reached a large wall that looked as if it had once been the resting place for an expertly crafted stained glass window, but it had long been blown up.

I climbed through the opening.

On the other side was a large room, as big as the one in the distiness mansion, but there was lots of rubble around it. Presumably, it had fallen from the ceiling during an explosion.

My reason for coming here was standing in the centre of the room, however.

"I somehow had a feeling that you would survive," Verdia told me.

I nodded in recognition of his statement.

"I can see that you are much stronger than before however. I may have to fight seriously this time." Verdia told me, drawing his sword.

He charged.

My hand reached over my shoulder and retrieved my shield, blocking his hit outright. I didn't move from my position. I looked Verdia in the eye as he strained against the hylian shield and my strength combined.

"You will not live until the day," I told him.

The Dullahan growled, and retreated momentarily.

I held up my shield and turned around.

"I don't need this. Let's fight sword against sword." I said, throwing the shield away.

"I see you have a new sword," Verdia stated, eying the fancy sheath on my back.

"You are right," I said, turning to him.

My hand went over my shoulder again, and I grasped the hilt of the sword that seals the darkness, and pulled.

With a metallic click, the initial resistance left, and the rest of the sword came out its sheath with a _shhhhink._

I brought it round in front of me. Its hilt was dark purple, with golden thread wrapping around the handle. The cross-guards were also purple, and shared a strange resemblance to wings of some sort. They were joined by a diamond-shaped piece of gold.

The cahppe was also gold, and protruding from it was a blueish-grey blade. It grew wider at the forte, and had a tri-force engraved onto it. It grew thinner again after this symbol, and stayed this way until the very end, where it thinned to a sharp point.

It was perfectly balanced, and felt perfect in the hand.

I raised it into a defensive stance, holding it with both hands in front of me.

The Dullahan growled at me again.

This was when I charged. I passed right by Verdia, leaving a long cut down his armour.

The dullahan swung his sword at me again, but I blocked it.

The two blades ground against each other, both of us fighting for the hit, but I had the obvious advantage. After a few seconds, noticeable damage showed on Verdia's sword. There was a nick showing; The Master Sword was cutting through Verda's one.

This caused him to back off again. For the first time, I saw a hint of fear in Verdia's eye.

I went on the offensive now. I charged in. The dullahan threw his helmet in the air, and time slowed. I was powerless as he slammed his sword across my chest. I could feel my chainmail spitting, and the sword drew blood. Somehow, my body remained intact this time.

All I needed was more speed. I tensed my muscles, and when I hit the ground, kicked off.

I was moving fast enough to keep up with Verdia, even with his time spell. I suffered another serious blow to the shoulder, and I could feel the adamantite plate crack. I also receive countless minor hits.

However, Verdia's armour was in tatters, almost completely falling off of his body. He was more severely injured than me.

I held up my sword in the air. Blue light gathered in the surrounding atmosphere, and entered the blade. Now it was glowing bright blue, and radiated pure power.

In the next clash, with a single swipe, I sliced The Dullahan's sword off at the hilt.

With another swipe, I cut him in half.

I bent over him; he was still alive.

"Thank you. You are stronger than me. Thank you. When I died, I have always wanted it to be a worthy Knight that kills me."

I nodded again in acknowledgement.

Verdia's body exploded into light, leaving only his helmet.

The blue light faded from the Master Sword, and I sheathed it.

I held my hand over my stab wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood. My adrenalyn surge had worn off, however, and the pain was almost unbearable. _I have to reach the town._

I didn't make it far. I could feel myself getting dizzy from loss of blood.

Keeling over and losing consciousness, I had one thought on my mind.

 _I kept my promise._

* * *

Authors note: Well, this one was shorter than usual, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! I am planning to make the new information about the ddimensionsmore important later in the story. I had a guest over at my house during the weekend, so I couldn't write. Sorry for being late! I will try my best to get back on schedule so I can upload on time next week. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading, please review! See you in the next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

Authors note: Well. I recently began reading another konosuba fanfiction (Re: We Defeated the Devil King, but now our daily life is compromised) and I am enjoying the hell out of it. The main reason being the sheer amount of times that it made me laugh. So, I am going to try to be a little more comedic in this story too. I don't know how well it's going to go, but I'll try! Tell me your thought of the change (if there is any) in the reviews section. Also, as of writing, we are at 1950 views! Which means that we will probably hit 2000 sometime while I'm writing (yay). Anyway, on to the story!

* * *

 **Part 1: (Megumin)**

When morning came, I woke up feeling as if a strange weight had been lifted off of my chest, which was strange seeing as I had just witnessed Link being cut in half.

Whatever weight this may have been, however, it being gone did little to change my mood. I got up, put some clothes on, and left the room, not bothering to wake Aqua, who Kazuma had insisted stay close to me at all times.

For whatever reason, walking aimlessly around town calmed me. Thoughts were invading my mind. Ones that shouldn't belong to me. Growing up, I had been told that I was a genius, a genius who could grow up to do anything they want. I could learn any spell, get any job, even defeat the Devil King if I wanted to.

Lies.

Beat the Devil King, when I could do nothing to save my friends.

Eleven people had died.

One of them had been Link. My first friend.

Was it my fault? I was the one that had released explosion magic when Verdia was going to leave peacefully. I stopped walking. It _was_ my fault.

" _I'LL KILL YOU!" Link shouted as he charged._

 _I tried to shout out, to tell him to give up, but the words died in my throat as Link was cut in half._

"Megumin!" Kazuma voice shouted out to me.

I looked up without thinking. I tried to rectify my mistake by averting my gaze quickly, but it was too late. Kazuma had seen my tears. Anybody else may have tried to comfort me… _'Link wouldn't want to see you like this...'_ That is what they would say. Kazuma knew though. I was ultimately responsible for killing my best friend, the first person who seemed to actually care about me. He was dead now. Lying in two pieces outside the main gate. To top it all off, I was going to die in three, no, two days from now.

Just what I deserved.

Kazuma walked over and lifted my chin up again.

"We will lift your curse, and then have a proper funeral, okay?"

I nodded but didn't say anything. Kazuma walked me home. Kazuma sat me down on a chair and lifted my bedsheets to change them. An act of kindness in a time such as this just made me break down again.

This time, however, Kazuma only said one word.

"Look."

I obliged and looked up.

Kazuma was holding up a piece of paper. On it was written few words.

'Verdia is dead.'

"Oh no," I mumbled.

"Somebody has gone after the Dullahan!" Kazuma said.

"Well, now they are dead."

"Maybe not yet! We have to help them!"

The next hour was all a rush. We can just say that Kazuma is very good at pissing people off. After a lot of provocation, he had mustered a small army, all enraged by the fact that Verdia may or may not have called them 'Gormless Herbs.'

We were now marching along the road to his castle.

Apparently, everybody had forgotten that he had essentially shat all over us just yesterday.

The idiot adventurers were obviously more prepared that yesterday, seeing as they had brought a battle ram to break down the poor dullahan's doors.

So, no doors.

With them out of the way, a swarm of undead looked up, but had only enough time to look up before I killed them all. I shouldn't have to say what spell I used.

Upon reaching the main hall, we found nothing. A few recent craters littered the floor, and the remains of what seemed to be a divided sword, the blade cut off at the hilt.

Kicking down a small pile of rubble, I spied a glint of blue. I knelt down, and Kazuma followed. Together, we made short work of the pile and uncovered a shield exactly like Link's. I had never seen another shield like his, so this was strange by itself. What was stranger was Link's body, lying in a pool of blood, by Verdia's helmet.

While I was frozen, Aqua had run over to this person, pressed her head against his chest, and shouted:

"He's still alive!"

Kazuma rushed over to this person's side as well. He removed his half-cape, and pressed it against the stab wound. It was actually more of a slash, but it went deep. Aqua began her healing magic, and his breathing strengthened, and the wound closed.

As soon as she stopped, however, it opened back up, and began bleeding again. Kazuma covered up the wound again.

It went like this for almost an hour. Everybody was silent, not daring to speak for whatever reason. Maybe worried that they would disturb Aqua.

How had Link survived? I saw him be cut in half. But he was right here. He even had his sword strapped to his back, which I _knew_ was one of a kind. Who was this person.

There was no doubt that it _was_ Link. But that brought me back to my first question. How had he survived?

But did I care?

Maybe I hadn't killed my best friend after all.

I was left like this, alone with my thoughts for what seemed like days, but was disturbed when I heard Aqua speak.

"He'll live."

* * *

 **Part 2: (Link)**

Once again, I found myself regain consciousness in an unknown location, and deciding to keep my eyes closed. I looked at a mental checklist, and thought about what to do next.

Leave a note for Megumin. Done.

Defeat Dullahan with Master Sword. So. Done.

Go into hiding. In progress.

I sighed. I was dead. I couldn't come back to life without raising suspicions. An entire city had watched me get sliced in half. I wouldn't be surprised if I was accused of being undead. I couldn't put my friends in that danger as well.

I opened my eyes.

"About time!" Aqua's familiar irritating voice issued from beside me.

Somehow, I had not realised that I was lying in a bed. It had been so long since I slept on something that was not hay or dirt that I had subconsciously dismissed this foreign terrain as an unknown surface.

"I've been here waiting like five days here! Just waiting for you to wake up!" Aqua continued yelling.

It seemed that I had already been caught. While I had failed in my objective, I couldn't help feeling relieved. From a tactical point of view, while I wasn't nearly as clueless about this world as Kazuma, many of this it's cultures were still alien to me, and I _did_ need natives to help. And of course, I had come to really love these guys.

"Say something!" Aqua apparently realised that I was ignoring her.

"I didn't ask you to stay here."

"You would have died if didn't!"

I looked at her, then looked down to where the dullahan had stabbed me. Where the wound had been, there was a tight bandage. I see.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realise that you healed me."

"Don't say sorry, just say thanks."

I looked at her. Maybe Aqua was less shallow-minded than I had thought.

I smiled. "Thanks."

That was when Megumin and Kazuma walked in, carrying some large bags. Megumin's ones instantly fell to the floor when she saw me sitting, and soon I found myself in a tight hug.

"Megumin-chan…. Air…" I choked.

She jumped away quickly.

"Sorry."

I looked at Kazuma.

"Sorry, I'm not giving you a hug." He told me.

I let out a laugh.

"But I'm glad you're back."

"Me too." I grinned.

"Hmpf."

A strange sound of indignation came from Aqua. After asking her what was wrong, she said:

"The only reason Kazuma is happy you're back is because a little girl had to save his ass from those toads."

I looked questioningly to Megumin.

"Seeing as you have just woken up after being mortally wounded, I am willing to ignore the fact that you just implied that I am a little girl." She told me.

So I looked to Kazuma for an answer instead.

"A childhood friend of Megum-"

"-Ahem." Megumin interrupted.

"What?" Asked Kazuma and I together, slightly annoyed

"Just that she is 'hiding' just behind the door, listening to our conversation."

Perfectly on cue, girl bounded into the room saying "I wasn't!"

To which we looked at her with a sort of sarcastic look that I can't remember the name of now.

"Okay, I was, but only because I happened to overhear you talking about me just before I entered!"

Kazuma and Megumin seemed to accept this.

The newcomer had similar features to Megumin, the same dark brown hair, to the point where it was almost black. The same glowing red eyes. The only differences were that she was slightly taller and more developed than Megumin. And, of course, her hair was styled differently. I sat up a bit higher, and addressed her with a smile.

"Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Link."

"Hello, Haruo Link is it? Megumin's told me alot about you!" She responded, shaking my hand.

"It's just Link," I said darkly. I rectified my mood change quickly enough that she didn't seem to notice. "What's your name?" I was smiling again.

"I'm Yun-Yun. Nice to meet you too!" She seemed happy that we had gotten off to a friendly start.

"Don't bother hitting on him," Megumin interjected.

Yun-yun's face suddenly went very red. "I-I don't know w-what you're talking about."

"He wouldn't notice if you waved your emotions in front of him," Megumin continued. "In the form of a billboard that read 'I Love you!'."

"I-I see," Yun-Yun said. "And you have tried?"

"Of course not, It is just so obvious that you are desperate that I am advising you to cut your losses now, before you waste your time on him."

I looked between the two. Megumin noticed my expression and said:

"Girl stuff." She said.

Something was off. Oh well.

"Girl stuff aside, where are we?" I asked.

"We are renting a place out until you fully recuperate," Kazuma responded.

Had I been in better condition, without the stab wound, I may have jumped up, and shouted _what_ , but I decided against it. I gave a feeble jerk, and experienced terrible pain just under my ribcage: where Verdia stuck a sword in me. Kazuma seemed to notice my situation and answered my unspoken question.

"Between us, we had almost thirty million, so we splurged a little. Plus, a horse stable is not exactly a clean place to heal." He said.

At this point, somebody else came into the room. She looked familiar.

"Who are you?" Kazuma asked bluntly.

A little _ah_ came from this new person's mouth, confirming my suspicions that she was, in fact, Darkness.

"Don't pretend that you don't know me Kazuma." She said.

"I am very sorry Lalatina-sama, I will be sure not to joke around in the future."

"I told you not to call me that." Darkness grumbled.

"If you really don't want me to refer to you like that, you wouldn't have told me that it's your real name."

Darkness ignored this, and started her business.

"For a transaction of a large sum of money issued by the government, the action must be overseen by a representative of the local council, and I have volunteered to be the said representative." Darkness said.

"Been practising that all night have you?" Kazuma asked.

"Sh-shut up!"

"Sorry, but, what money?" I interrupted their drama. "I haven't done any quests!"

Darkness looked incredulous. "What do you mean!? You have done the country a great service! You defeated Verdia, a leader in the devil King's' army! That was you wasn't it? We found his helmet in the castle…"

"Yes, it was me…"

"Surely you didn't think such an action would go overlooked? The king himself has signed an order to have you rewarded handsomely." Darkness explained. "This money is yours. There is 300 million. Um, would one of you like to take it to the guild's bank?"

Both Kazuma and Megumin hand held out their hands, ready to accept the upcoming fortune.

Darkness brought out a bag, evidently full of money. It had the sheer girth of a large car tire. When she dropped it into Kazuma's hand, he collapsed with the bag on top of him.

"FuFu. Should have given it to me, Darkness." Megumin spoke. "Kazuma is a weakling."

We all began laughing, save for kazuma, who kept silent. We all assumed that he was just hiding after being shamed in front of the person he sleeps with, and two thirteen-year-old girls.

These hopeful assumptions were dashed, however, as Kazuma started making horrible, scratchy gasping noises. Evidently, he was dying from lack of oxygen, trapped under the fortune that he had been so awaiting.

Apparently, money _can_ buy happiness.

We continued laughing.

Comedy.

* * *

 **Part 3: (Link)**

Though Aqua had previously appeared annoyed that she had to stay with me twenty-four-seven, she forced me to stay in bed another three days, to be certain that my wound was not going to open up. Normally, she told me, she would be able to heal a 'scratch' like mine in an instant, but Verdia's sword seemed to be cursed with something to make it hard to do so.

But, even so, after three days, she let me out. We decided to discuss upcoming affairs with the rest of the party, and planned to meet later. Kazuma told Aqua that she needn't come, because most of the business would be taken care of by himself, me and Darkness.

Aqua told us that she was going to the guild anyway, for her 'Evening Drink,' so it wasn't a problem.

The same Aqua opened our meeting by ordering two rounds of beer for everybody.

"Ha Ha Ha I hope you can pay for that Aqua!" Kazuma said brightly in an uplifting voice.

"I killed two giant toads yesterday, so I have money, Kazuma!" Aqua returned in the same voice.

"But you still owe me the rent that I have been bailing you out on for the past three weeks!" He was still smiling.

The same could not be said for Aqua, who looked about ready to cry. Not wanting a crisis on my hands, I told her that I would pay for them.

This changed her mood frightfully fast.

"Really!?" She shouted. "EVERYBODY, DRINKS ARE ON LINK!"

Wow. That's nice."

"It's exactly what you get for being nice to Aqua," Kazuma told me.

"Link, you _are_ too soft," Megumin said.

"I just saved you from a Demon who went to hell and back, and I'm _soft._ Of all of the insults, that is not one that I would have chosen."

They ignored me.

"How did you beat him in the end? We were no match for him earlier."

Alas, while caught in the thick of things, it seems I had forgotten to tell them.

"Look," I said, and drew the Master Sword out of its sheath.

Kazuma flinched, but all Megumin did, even though she was closer, was holding out her hand.

"Lemme see."

"Will you be able to touch it now?"

"Maybe."

Reluctantly, I handed it to her, she weighed it in her hand, pretending she knew something about swords. Valuing my life, I said nothing.

Kazuma had walked around the table, and held out his hand.

Megumin gave it to him, and he touched his finger lightly on the edge of the blade. He had barely touched it, but it came back red, with a shallow cut on his finger. He span it in his hand a bit, then took a gamble and swung it.

Obviously, it was bigger than his own sword, and he misjudged the length.

It sliced off a good portion of the bench.

Luckily, everybody seemed too drunk on my beer to notice.

Kazuma's eyes were wide. He picked up a piece of paper, and dropped it on the sword. The paper fell to the ground in two pieces. Gulping, he handed my sword back to me, and I sheathed it.

Kazuma gulped.

"You'll ace this tournament."

"Megumin told you?" I asked.

"Of course. How could I not?" Megumin said.

"So when will you be leaving if you win?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, surprised.

"Well, you will be the princesses appointed knight, so you will have to leave the party…"

I slapped my hand to my forehead when I realised I didn't tell them.

"The King has found a way around that. I won't be leaving."

"But how..?"

I explained to them that I would be able to sense whenever the princess is in danger, and then teleport to her at will.

"Ah, I get it. But what if she is attacked in bed, or in a shower?"

Trust Megumin to come up with a problem like this.

"Well, I'll just have to-"

"Don't worry Link, if you are scared of such circumstances, I can go in your place." Kazuma's interruption earned him a kick in the jewels.

"As I was saying, I would have to go anyway. Better lose your dignity that your life." I said.

"I see," Megumin said, narrowing her eyes. "I understand."

Kazuma really doesn't learn, because he chose this point to resurface under the table, and say: "He doesn't need _your_ permission. He could sleep with anybody if he wanted to."

Kazuma seemed to realise his mistake, because he ducked under the table again, which Megumin's next blow cracked.

Kazuma was evidently in fear of his life, because it took a while to get him to come out from under the table. There was no completely pacifying Megumin however, as, throughout the rest of the night, she would not stop throwing Kazuma dirty, threatening looks.

Not wanting to be brutally murdered in cold blood, Kazuma avoided provoking Megumin for the rest of the night, this meant that she was allowed to drink as much as she wanted. Obviously, never having consumed alcohol before, she became very intoxicated _very_ fast.

She approached me, and asked:

"L-lets go *hiccup* g-go k-k-kill Kazuma…*giggle*,"

"Um… let's not…" I said. I was in a normal working condition, as I wasn't drinking anything alcoholic.

"Link, Link…" It was Aqua talking now. "H-have a beer!"

It seemed to take a tremendous amount of effort just to say that.

"N-no thank you, I don't drink."

It didn't seem that I had much a choice however, as Aqua was forcefully steering me toward the bar by the shoulders.

Looking back, I saw Megumin's right hand reaching out. "C-come back…" She said. While she was raising her right hand, her left arm drooped, spilling a lot of her drink over the floor.

Her face went very red, she muttered "Hehe," and then fell asleep while standing. This, of course, meant that she fell to the ground. She also seemed to get a nasty knock to the head, but this, somehow, didn't wake her up.

"W-what are you *burp* l-looking at?" Aqua said beside me. She tried to follow my gaze but almost fell over from turning around too quickly.

"Aqua! Can we order another round?!" Came a voice from the bar.

"Y-YES! ORDER AS MANY AS YOU WANT! FREE BEER FOR EVERYBODY!" I had to cover my ears as Aqua shouted from beside me.

The entire guild, par me and Kazuma, who were not drinking, and Megumin, who was unconscious, began cheering.

"AQUA-CHAN! AQUA-CHAN! AQUA-CHAN!"

"YAY!" Aqua shouted.

She made to throw herself onto the crowd, but missed by several feet, and slammed into the ground. She remained unfazed, however, and swiftly got back up, still laughing. I had heard somewhere that alcohol numbs pain drastically, something to do with the drastic acceleration of nerve decay.

Kazuma came up behind me.

"This is a good time to make our getaway, right Link?" He asked me.

"I think that you are right Kazuma."

We ran out of the doors before anybody else could stop us.

* * *

 **Part 4: (Kazuma)**

Link and I left the building quickly. While Link was not in life-threatening danger, he also seemed anxious to leave.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" I asked him.

"I thought I was going to be pressured into drinking, or killing you." He replied.

"Ah. I thought it may be something like that. Not surprising really, considering the mental state of our friends." I said

Link chuckled. "I can't really argue with you there."

We were walking down the High Street. I looked over at Link. He really did look like a real adventurer. With a sword and shield strapped on his back, and rope, a knife, and other gadgets secured to his belt, he looked much older than he was. It explained why I thought he was my age when I first saw him. As it turns out, he was actually a couple of years _younger_ than me. Not only that, but he carried himself like a much more mature person, all business, most of the time.

Looking at myself, however, I still walked slouched over, with my hands in my pockets. And even if I had my adventuring gear on, anybody would choose him as a bodyguard over me.

It was as if he were born to be an adventurer.

"You know, you can relax sometimes," I told him.

"What do you mean?" He sounded genuinely intrigued.

"Well, you always wear chainmail, and carry your adventuring equipment," I said.

"Well, I am a Knight." He laughed.

"But, you always act so alertly, like you are ready to be attacked at any moment. You can completely hide your feelings, so nobody can ever tell what you are thinking. The only times I ever see you show any emotion is when Megumin is there."

Wow, I didn't think a sentence like that would ever come out of my mouth. I looked sideways at Link, who appeared deep in thought.

"Well, Megumin always knows what I am thinking anyway…" He began, but I interrupted.

"But that's not the only reason, is it?"

"I… I don't know…" He said quietly.

He appeared very troubled.

"Calm down, I didn't want to put you through an existential crisis. I just wanted to say that you can be more open with us."

He smiled. "I'll try." He said.

Wow. Now _that_ was a conversation that I didn't know I was capable of. Link opened his mouth to continue, but before this disgusting emotional conversation continued, I changed the subject.

"So, what about this House?" I asked.

"How did you know?" He responded to my question with a question, surprised.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh. I see. Well, the real reason that I wanted to leave that drink-fest early was because I was going to an architect to get a quote on the building of a house."

"You have more than enough," I told him.

"But, I want to design the house. So it might cost more."

So he knew how to design a building too. Why did that not surprise me? Well, he had said enough to get me intrigued.

"What kind of house?"

"When we get there, I'll show you the blueprint. But keep it secret, okay? I want it to be a surprise for the others when we return from the capital." He said.

Get there we did. When he showed me the blueprints, I almost gasped as I saw what was unmistakably a housing style from japan. It was what people called 'ultra-modern.'

I looked at Link. Had he come from the same place as I? It would make sense. He was unimaginably powerful for a native. It also explained how he knew aqua before I had introduced her.

"Link?" I asked.

"Hm?" He responded, still examining his blueprint.

"Does the word 'Japan' mean anything to you?" I asked.

"Of course! I knew it. You _are_ from Japan! Wait, but you have blonde hair…"

"I see why you would think that," Link said, laughing, "But no, I am not from Japan. I am from another world, from a Kingdom called Hyrule."

"Then how are you so strong?" I was almost shouting.

"Well, I was born quite adept in combat, with faster reaction times than normal people. Things like that. Then I proved my worth to the kingdom rulers by defeating an ancient monster with only a pot lid."

"But then, how do you know about these things?" I pressed, despite his quick response, I was not fazed.

"I-it's complicated. Let's just say an old friend told me about it."

I sighed. It seemed that he was not going to reveal anything else.

The head of the building firm seemed intrigued at Link's design, to say the least.

"Ya' sure ya' want this? I ain't' seen anythin' like i'." He exclaimed. "But the materials look interestin'. Concrete? A mixture of limestone, sand and water, that goes very hard when it dries? That could work… I can do the building for 350 mil'."

I gasped. I didn't realise that it would cost so much. Looking annoyed at my reaction, the builder said:

"It _is_ a six bedroom place, what did ya' expect?" He dismissed me as an idiot, and turned to Link.

"I won't be able to do this 'underfloor heating' mind. 350 mil' for the building, none of these fancy additions."

Link seemed to be thinking hard. About what, I don't know, because we only _had_ 300 million.

"Ok then. For 400 million, can you have it done in two weeks?"

The builder's eyes widened, along with mine.

I began shouting at Link. "What are you think-" But was interrupted by the builder.

"It'll be a push, but we can do it." He said.

"Great, here are the coordinates to the land on which I want it built." Link handed him a bit of paper.

The builder looked at it. "Wow. This is far out." He said.

"Of course, I don't want to impose on other people. Also, I won't be able to oversee the construction, as I will be in the capital." Link said.

"That's fine. We'll have it done. See you then!" The builder said.

Link smiled, said: "Great!" Then dragged me out of the shop.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked when we left. "We only have 300!"

"Well, I'm a bit of a gambler." He said. "Also, I needed more incentive to win this tournament. Now I'll go to prison if don't!" He said brightly.

* * *

 **Part 5: (Megumin)**

The way I woke up was a little unsettling. I came to, lying on what seemed to be cobblestone. My last memory being fuzzy, and very unusual, I dismissed it as a strange dream. Was I still in a dream then? No, these cobblestones felt very real. I laid there with my eyes open for a few seconds. An overpowering headache was beginning to show its face, to the point where it seemed like there was a lot of pressure on all sides.

Normally, If I woke up naturally, that is to say, waking up with someone else _waking_ me up, I was not one to lie in bed. It was a meaningless practice, staying laying in one place for no reason. If your body wakes you up, then it is done with being asleep, and you might as well get up and go about your day; it doesn't need to be asleep anymore.

Today, however, I could tell. Maybe it was my subconscious, or some primal instinct, but I could somehow tell that pushing myself up would be a very bad idea.

Being the stubborn person that I am, I _did_ force myself up. I had a good reason to, that I had pressing matters to attend to this morning, and I couldn't be held up by a headache, or an overpowering urge to stay still.

I put my earlier thought to the test, and found myself standing. This didn't last for long however, because the second I straightened up, I was forced to bend over, my dizziness intensifying dramatically. This obviously did nothing to help my headache; it only got worse. The result of this was a horrible combination of the two, resulting in my throwing up.

This offered no relief, and with a puddle of vomit on the floor, I had an even greater urge to lie back down. Over and over, I forced myself forward, knocking tables and chairs aside, and vomiting every few feet. After a bit, I was forced to admit defeat, and I stopped moving.

It wasn't long before Link came to my rescue.

"I thought I would find you here." He said.

"Link, I think someone poisoned my drink…" I said.

Though I was looking to the ground, I could tell that Link was looking around at the destruction that I had caused.

"Yeah… I see why you would think that." He said.

"You talk as if you know what happened." I pointed out. Opening my mouth was a mistake, however, and I proceeded to put my misery on the floor.

"You might need this…" Link siad, and handed me a bucket.

I nodded my thanks, and put the said bucket to good use.

"In a way," He began, "You _have_ been poisoned. Drinks such as the beer you overdosed on last night contain a high quantity of alcohol."

"Tell me something I don't know." I choked.

"Point is, what you are experiencing is what Kazuma called a 'Hangover.' Looking at the results only makes me more glad that I refused the drink that Aqua offered me." Link said. "By what Kazuma has told me, you will be experiencing these symptoms for the rest of the day, at least."

I groaned in response. Link picked me up in the same way he did whenever I used my explosion, telling me that we had a job to do. He must have told me about it when I was already drunk, because I couldn't remember what the job _was._

He put me down just before we reached the site.

"I know it will be obvious that you are hungover, but try not to throw up again until we are out of our clients' sight. It will leave a bad impression." He said.

"Link, you focus too much on professionalism."

He nodded gravely. "You will want to as well when you meet our client."

We rounded the corner, and a fancy carriage was visible, flanked in front and behind by normal caravans in a traditional convoy.

"Link-kun. I hope you are better prepared than the rest of your party." An annoying scratchy voice said.

It was very familiar. I hated that voice, and the person it belonged to.

"When did you earn the right to talk to Link like that, Dandridge?" I spat, with venom in my voice.

* * *

 **Part 6: (Link)**

Megumin reacted more or less how I imagined she would. After throwing a phrase at our employer, with her tone underlying violence, she vomited into her bucket again.

"I apologise Dandridge-Sama. My friend is still slightly intoxicated."

"Haruo-Link. I believe I deserve a little more respect. I _am_ paying you for this." Dandridge said.

"It's just Link."

"Oh, changed it have you." This baka likes to talk.

"You could say that. But, rather, I was forced to change it." I told him.

"Well, I would ask about it, but I really don't care." He said.

I had long gotten used to people of higher rank than I talking down to me. I had endured it much more than Megumin, and by now, I could easily ignore disrespect. Megumin was a different story, however, having mostly dealt with monsters and such in the past. The fact that she was much more outspoken than me in the first place didn't help.

"You shut up. How did you keep your position after being caught corrupt?" She asked him violently.

"The King let me off with a warning. Told me to play fairly from now on. Now that I am travelling to the capital, I hired a group of adventurers to act as bodyguards." He replied, grinning. "I specifically asked for Link as well. I always wondered how he beat my Tristan-kun."

Megumin gritted her teeth. I could tell she was about to say something of a higher magnitude than what she had earlier, and I stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's go meet up with the others. Let's not get fired before the quest has begun." I told her.

She let out a long breath though her mouth and nodded, looking down. She began walking toward the caravan that Dandridge then indicated to her. This left me alone with the noble.

"While I might not show it, I hate you just as much as she does," I said. "Now, let's go over the contract again."

He smiled, but it looked like the opposite of kindness.

"You will give me half of my pay now. When we arrive at the capital, you will give me the rest. During the journey, my party and I will eliminate any threats, be it Monsters, bandits, or kidnappers."

He gave me the same evil smile again. "Of course." He said, handing over a small bag of money.

I turned my back to him, and went to join my friends. When I arrived, I found them all lying down. I made them get up. Which provoked a series of groans from them all.

"Oh no. Link has gone into business mode." Kazuma grumbled.

"That means basic rights don't exist for the rest of the day," Aqua said.

Megumin, being tougher than the other two, and in a bad mood, told them all to shut up.

I began, glaring at Aqua and Kazuma. "I know that you are all hungover, so I will take full guard duty today and tonight. But tomorrow morning, you will be helping, whether you are ready or not."

"Why? You are more than strong enough to deal with common bandits. It's not like when we first met." Megumin pointed out.

"Only that I have a bad feeling about this," I said. "This is not going to go smoothly. I can tell."

We sat in the caravan, silent, all day. It was sunset.

"I'm going to go pee," I said.

This was a Lie. Over the last two hours, a carriage, led by two black horses had been following us. It could have been nothing, but it was my job to investigate.

Only Darkness nodded her acknowledgement; the other three were asleep. I jumped out of the moving cart, and snuck into the forest we were travelling through. I waited, hidden, twenty feet in, for our pursuers to reach me. When they did, I stowed away underneath the cart, in the space where a spare wheel normally would go. From there, I could hear the conversation inside.

"It's almost sundown. They are making good time. Should we attack now?" Somebody with a deep voice asked.

I inhaled sharply at the word 'attack.' Luckily, they didn't hear me.

"No. We attack when the orange flare goes up. All units have to attack at the same time, or somebody might get away, and inform the capital." Who I assumed to be their leader responded.

This was not good. These were more than common bandits. They were working in organised 'units,' and are using professional equipment such as flares. How many units were they going to use to attack a single noble? I would be able to deal with ten, maybe fifteen, well-trained guards. Past that, however, even I would be overwhelmed.

I waited for more information, but the conversation inside the carriage died down after that. I waited in my hiding place for another hour before anything else happened.

"Now men, is when we attack. We will be killing the noble Dandridge and anybody who stands in our way. We will fight with our lives for a greater cause."

Just what was this greater cause?

"THE CAPITAL WILL FALL!" The man shouted.

I froze as a loud cheer whas audible, and at least eight people jumped out of the caravan and began running north, toward Dandridge's convoy.

I obviously had to go to save my friends, and, by contract, Dandridge and his servants. But, it would be unlikely I would be able to intercept them before they got there. It would be to my tactical advantage to _let_ my party get captured, then save them. If they were captured, they may be exposed to more information. The ethical side of me was overpowered. If I tried to save them now, I would be throwing away my only chance to find out what was happening.

I counted to ninety, then got out from under the carriage. I moved to the forest, and began advancing parallel to the main path.

Reaching the site where my friends were ambushed, I could hear talking. I found a bush, and hid, listening in on it.

It was Dandridge. "What are you doing?"

I got a visual. My party, Dandridge, and his servants were all tied up, kneeling down in a line. In front of them was the force of knights who had attacked them. They were all wearing heavy battle-armour, and carrying large swords. The biggest of them was the one who spoke.

"Because we are going to kill you all, I will tell you. I know it's stupid, but I _am_ one to gloat." He said. "All along the continent, there were governors, nobles, and strong adventurers such as yourselves, travelling to the capital to observe the upcoming royal tournament. It's ironic really, the King holding a competition to find a strong knight, and leaving the capital more open than it ever has been before! At the exact time we captured you, all of these governors and rich men have also been captured, and will be killed. This gives us the opportunity to surround the capital."

Darkness's face was very red, being tied up and all, but she managed to ask a sensible question. "But why?"

"During the tournament, when the capital is at its weakest we will lay siege. Even if this initial bombardment fails, we have an army of twenty thousand advancing from all sides to back us up. The current king's stupid ideals have reigned for too long." The man grinned evilly again.

I'm sure everybody knew what he was going to say next, but we all drew our breath in anticipation anyway.

"We will have the King's head! Our Leader will become Dictator!"

Authors note: Hm. That may have been a largeish cliffhanger. Sorry. Anyway, I was right! We passed 2000 views! As of writing, we have 2202. Yay!

Anyway. I have 25 followers, and as far as I know, you have all been reading the chapters. So, you have no excuse not to review. The box is just under this, just leave a few words telling me what you think! It only takes a minute, and it means the world to me. Thanks! Until the next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Authors Note: This chapter is shorter than normal, and may seem a bit rushed. I apologise, more on that in the ending note.

* * *

 **Part 1: (Darkness)**

" _We will have the king's head! Our leader will become a dictator!"_

I barely heard that. My mind was slightly overloaded, being on my knees, tied up… being spoken to as if I were scum… I shook my head, thinking that I needed to snap out of it.

"Going slightly mad? Don't worry, If you are done asking questions, we can put you out of your misery."

When I shook my head, I noticed some blue in a nearby bush. I put two and two together and decided it was Link. Well then. Better gather as much information as possible while I still could. In fact, the situation was perfect, this man may have ruined the attack for his entire organisation- I could continue asking questions, Link could continue gathering intelligence, and if we survived, we could report to the King with Link's contacts. I suppressed a grin. We had a chance.

"So what is the name of this evil organisation then?" I asked.

"It's not evil! It is for the good of the country! Once we take over this country, we will attack Elroad as well, who the King has been soft on for too long!" The enemy yelled, then began laughing.

(a/n: As I said before, I haven't read the light novels yet. I found out about elroad on the Konosuba Fandom page)

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, but what is this totally obviously evil organisation called?"

I heard somewhere, probably Link, that people who are annoyed or irritated can sometimes accidentally leak information they otherwise wouldn't have. Or, in this case, It could have gotten me cut to bits. I had Link close by as insurance however, so it should be fine.

I was succeeding in making him annoyed. His eye was twitching.

"Onyx. It's Onyx." His twitching eye condition was only getting worse.

Kazuma seemed to catch on to what I was doing, or he had seen Link, or both. He was doing a thing with his eyes where he was somehow looking down on the other person while being at a lower physical altitude than him.

"Yeah, and that doesn't sound evil at all, does it?" Kazuma sarcastically asked Megumin, who was sitting beside him.

"No, not at all! To me, it sounds like an organisation promoting peace, free speech and teddy bears." She responded.

We all began laughing. It was pretty convincing too, considering we were staring death right in between the buttcheeks.

Our poor attacker had tried to look cool and act professionally.

To bad for him.

He chose the wrong party to attack.

Dandridge seemed to think that we were all going slightly insane.

"Some bodyguards you are, getting caught straight away. Wait, where is-" Dandridge was cut off as Megumin managed to silence him with her entire body, shouting "Oops! I slipped!"

Our attacker narrowed his eyes at us. Obviously, Aqua was the only one who hadn't realised that Link was missing yet.

Our attacker gestured to one of the soldiers, who lifted Megumin off Dandridge, and put her down where she was before (with one hand).

The sheltered noble had obviously not gotten the message yet, because he proceeded to say "As I was saying, where is the last-"

Kazuma also jumped on top of Dandridge, saying something along the lines of:

"Gosh darn this slippery stone pathway!"

Our attacker, the one wearing a strange hat, finally got suspicious.

"There is no way you both slipped just before this idiot sounded like he was about to reveal information!"

"It's this dry, stone road, I'm telling you! The government doesn't take care of its people! It's all their fault that we slipped!" Kazuma yelled indignantly.

I winced, sure he had blown our cover with that half-hearted excuse, especially because the strange-hat man looked incredulous. I was about to shout for Link to intervene, but-

"Hmmm. You seem to understand the situation that this kingdom is in… Hmmmm… I wonder….." He stopped to think for a second. "How would you like to join our organisation, and fight for the cause?"

Of all the directions that I had thought this conversation might go, that was not one of them.

"My friend, I would love to!" Kazuma gave his response with a smile.

"Hahaha!" Bellowed strange hat. "Cut the ropes off of this good man! He is one of us now!"

Kazuma's bonds promptly fell, and soon he was getting congratulations and slaps on the back from the other members.

I had never imagined Kazuma to be a good actor, and I wasn't wrong. He was terrible. Our attackers had seemed professional earlier, but they now appeared to be complete idiots, as they apparently did not question the conversation that was to come.

"Haha… So when do we attack the capital?" Kazuma asked.

"You _are_ a curious young one! We will attack during the tournament finals when the strongest knights in the region will be tired out! Smart, right?" He said.

" _Very_ smart," Kazuma affirmed. "But, how will you get past the guards?"

"Good question! We will use this carriage! Each one of the major nobles has a unique one. We will get close with this, then kill any guards that don't let us through! This obviously won't go unnoticed, but the deed will be done, as we will be entering from all gates at once! We will have a sizeable task force inside the capital during the tournament week! Those will be the people that kill the king!"

"And if you fail?" Kazuma seemed worried, like me.

"Then we have the army, which I mentioned earlier. The fighting on the inside will draw attention away from the surrounding army which I mentioned earlier on the outside of the wall. Then we will lock them in their own wall. They will have to fight or starve!"

"Well, that was all I needed to know." A voice said.

While watching Kazuma's conversation, I had lost tabs on Link. He was now standing behind strange hat, with the Master Sword drawn.

Strange hat turned around in amazement. "How did you get there?" He asked.

"Well, you see, I put one foot in front of the other, slowly and carefully, until I found myself here," Link gestured to his feet, "From over there." He pointed to the bush in which he was hiding.

"Ah, I see. You thought you would play the hero!" Strange hat responded. "Get him."

"Hm? Are you talking to them?" Link pointed his sword behind them, where there were several bodies.

Alone, strange hat lost some of his composure. "Without me hearing?"

"Yep."

"Well then. I will fight you myself." Strange hat said, drawing his sword and getting into a stance. He then charged at Link, who caught the blow on the chappe of the Master Sword, which he gave a little flick-twist motion. Strange-hat's sword clattered to the ground.

He scrambled to pick it up. Link waited.

"It seems that you are stronger than you look." Strange hat said. "Then I shall unleash my ultimate attack! Flare burst!"

His sword burst into flames. Probably the sword had some flammable substance covering it, and he used tinder at the base. A simple combination, but no doubt powerful.

He ran at Link agan, whose shield appears on his left arm, nullifying the attack completely.

"I have beaten far stronger foe than you," He said. "You would do well to admit defeat."

"Yeah right! Then you will hand me to the capital!" Strange hat gave his answer.

"Is that worse than death? I am not one to kill for no reason, but we can't leave you alone to go to report back to your commander." Link said.

"The capital will fall!" He yelled.

Link sighed. In a blur of motion, he disappeared reappearing with his sword sheathed behind strange hat's back. With a single chop, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"I don't like killing people." Link sighed again. "Anyway, Kazuma, what do you think we should do?"

* * *

 **Part 2: (Megumin)**

Kazuma looked bewildered.

"You're asking me that when I am tied up on the ground?" He asked.

He had a good point. Link had just waltzed on to the scene, defeated some bad guys, and couldn't be bothered untying us. I had been sleeping, minding my own business, dealing with a hangover, and some evil organisation had the audacity to tie me up, with no warning!

"Ah, Sorry." Link said. He walked up to us, and with a flash of his sword, the ropes fell around us.

I jumped up, walked up to Link, and hit him over the head with my staff, with almost, but not quite, the perfect amount of force to get him concussed. He was obviously hurt, but managed not to cry out. He did grit his teeth though, so that was a small victory.

"Will you hit me again if I ask why you did that?" He asked.

"No."

"Why did you hit me?" He asked.

I hit him again.

"It's because you left us in danger here when you could have saved us from the start." Darkness interjected.

"Ohhhh. I did that because I needed the information to report to the King." I told Megumin

"I know _why_ you did it! That doesn't make me any happier about it!" I kicked his shin for good measure.

"Ahem." We looked to the source of the fake cough and found that it was Dandridge's. "Why aren't you asking _me_ what _I_ think? I am your employer, and you will do as I say!"

Link turned to him.

"I believe our contract stated that we were to protect you against bandits, kidnappers and monsters in the best way possible?"

"It did!"

"Does that not also imply that _we_ are to be the ones who decide what is best for your safety?" Link continued.

"Well-" He stammered.

"Would it not be stupid for us all to escort you, when you will die anyway if we don't stop the infiltrators?" He pressed.

Dandridge looked about ready to pass out. Time for me to cut in.

"No judge to threaten here Dandridge. You should stop spewing shit out of you over-inflated ass, and face reality." I told him.

Under pressure for what was probably the first time in his pampered life, he fainted.

"Nice going Megumin, that will make everything a lot easier," Kazuma said.

"When you say 'everything' what do you mean?" I asked him.

He glanced sideways at Link, who nodded, as if giving permission.

"Well. The other day Link told me that he thought something like this might happen.."

"How could you foresee something like that?" Darkness inquired. She seemed to be more shaken than the rest of us, which was not really a surprise, seeing as she grew up in a family of nobles.

"Well," Link explained. "It was just like this guy said. The capital has never been more open. Something like this was almost definitely going to happen. I just assumed that the king knew as well, and made preparations for it."

"I-I see." Darkness accepted.

It seemed obvious once Link said it, and Kazuma had obviously come to the same conclusion; it only happened before we did.

"So," Kazuma began. "I want Link to take a Horse, and go with Megumin. You will locate the site of the other attacks, and rescue any survivors." He looked at me. "Got it? The fastest way would be to kill all of the onyx members."

"Hai!" Link and I said.

"You will probably be pulling an all nighter fighting and running."

"And what will you be doing?" I asked.

"Darkness and I will take the smallest carriage and two horses." He turned to Darkness. "You know how to ride a horse, right?"

"Of course." Darkness replied to Kazuma.

"Great," Kazuma said. "Then we will take Dandridge, and pick up the other nobles that you saved. We will take them all to the Capital. Aqua will keep us sustained."

Link looked confused. "But they all attacked at the same time to prevent this kind of response. Even if the others managed to keep their attackers stalled for long enough, there is next to no chance we will be able to save them all. We probably have an hour, at best. And we have to get around the continent."

Kazuma looked at Link with a glint in his eye.

"Then you are just going to have to be fast then. That is your job, isn't it?"

Link went back into what Aqua and I like to call 'Business Mode.' HIs face goes hard with determination, and you can't imagine him ever failing. But to succeed this time, he would have to be faster than he ever had been before.

"Of course." He grabbed me, threw me on to a black horse that he seemed to have selected. He nodded to Kazuma, Darkness and Aqua, who said "Good Luck."

I grabbed onto Links shoulders as we turned off the path and sped into the forest.

* * *

 **Part 3: (Link)**

It had been a very long time since I had ridden a horse. Coming here, I felt that I had lost part of me. Now, I realised it had been something as simple as horse riding. It wasn't for everybody, but travelling so fast was exhilarating. I leant forwards and snapped the reins, which brought on another quick burst of speed. In front of us, a fallen tree obstructed our path, but the black horse leapt over it gracefully, with no loss in speed, as if it had never jumped.

We were going so fast that I didn't notice Megumin also reducing her height. I slowed down.

"What's wrong?" I asked them.

"Nothing, just using you to shield me from the wind." Said Megumin matter-of-factly.

" Right. Megumin?" I asked.

"Yes?" She replied.

"I'm going to have to teach you how to ride this horse," I told her.

She looked surprised but asked no questions.

(a/n: I have absolutely no idea how to ride a horse. I am making it up. For any horse lovers out there, I am about to butcher your favourite sport, so I apologise in advance.)

"It's simple enough. Snap the reigns to make him dash. Tug back on them lightly and he will slow. He is very well trained, it's a small learning curve- you should be fine." I told her.

"R-right."

"Steering is also easy. Lightly pull on the right reign to turn left, and vice-versa. Got it?"

Megumin hesitantly nodded.

"Right. When we leave this forest, I'm going to switch with you. If I am right, the site of the closest attack is in about a kilometre. The end of the forest is in seven hundred metres. I marked some of the bearings when I had some spare time after the flares went up."

"O-okay…" She said.

"Get ready," I said, counting down. "Twenty seconds."

I could tell from the torch by the road on the other side.

"Ten seconds." It was about that, if I were to judge it rationally.

"Five seconds." It was going fast up until this point.

"Three seconds." What were we getting ourselves into? It was a whole planned organisation that we were up against. With a plan we had thrown together in about two minutes. We had no guaranteed support, and we owed no pledge to the king.

"Two." These numbers were coming out automatically now. That last second seemed to last far too long didn't it?"

"One. Kill the torch."

Well, it was too late to turn back now.

"Switch with me Megumin-chan!"

In the second where we were leaving the forest, and our cover, I jumped, drawing my bow in mid-air. Below, Megumin moved under me, taking the reins. I landed on the back of the horse, and would have fallen off if it weren't for her grabbing my free hand with hers. There was no time for thanks, however, as we were close approaching the site of the attack. I shouted for Megumin to aim for a point one hundred metres beside them, and she altered her course.

In the field, I could see five people tied up and on their knees. I would have no time to gather further information. The eight who were standing were the ones I would target.

I set my sights on the tallest one, and knocked an arrow. I pulled the string, my elbow coming up out of instinct. This was not a shot that I could fail. I was trying to hit a shot at least one-hundred metres away, standing on a galloping horse. I took my time to aim.

My right hand was by my cheek, my left eye closed, so my vision would be looking as directly down the shaft of the arrow as possible. I pointed it right at his head, then brought it high up to account for the drop off of one-hundred and fifty metres.

We were travelling at approximately forty kilometre-an-hour north. The apparent wind was approximately north-east by north. The wind would be about east, at about fifteen knots.

I moved my arrow to the let further, to account for my wind approximations. I double checked my drop off, emptied my lungs, and steadied my arms. I let the string loose.

The string made a soft _whoosh_ , instead of the usual _twang_. I could see it flying upward for a few metres, but it was lost in the night that came in the last twenty minutes.

I couldn't see the arrow, so I looked to the light from the torch that the onyx members had lit.

After a couple of seconds, one of their heads jerked to the right, and he fell over, dead.

"Begin circling them, keeping your distance. The night is our cover."

She was silent.

"Megumin-chan?"

I looked over to her.

She looked genuinely scared. It could have been the idea of horse riding at high speed with no training, or it could have been the extent of the situation we were facing, but it was one of the first times that she didn't attempt to hide her fear.

"Hey, you will be fine. And so will the others." I told her.

I couldn't have her terrified. In a battle, fear was important, but not so much that you freeze up. Of course, in front of an enemy, it is important not to show fear, but that is not to say it shouldn't be there. The bravest heroes can appear courageous and confident, but the Hero who wins will be the one who masks his fear, and uses it to his advantage. Fear pumps your body full of adrenalyn, which can ultimately lead to victory. In a life-or-death situation, fear is just as important as bravery. This is what I had been told.

But this was the first time I had been part of a real party, and seeing a friend like that was impossible.

"Tomorrow, when this is over, we will toast to the future in some capital cafe, got it?" I asked her.

"I would like that." She finally smiled.

"So would I. Now, if you could try to begin circling these bandits, I can take the rest of them out."

* * *

 **Part 4: (Link)**

They were still looking around in confusion, but it would not last. Soon, they would come to the conclusion that they had to kill their prisoners before it was too late.

Megumin began turning, slowly circling the 'camp' at a general range of 100-150 metre. After one full circumference, none of my targets were left standing. I had eight targets, and to hit them all, fired twelve arrows. Reflecting on this, there was another thing that we had to think on.

My arrows were custom made, because I found that I preferred the standard Hyrulian ones to those of this world. They did not bend nearly as easy, and they were longer and thinner, so they made for much better accuracy at long range. They were also much heavier.

The arrows I am talking about are, of course, those ones made of ash wood, with a steelhead, rather than a flint one. The feathers all had my tradition blue and white colour scheme on them, and they were quite well known. It was not a problem as such, but it could have become an inconvenience, as the nobles now knew who had just saved them.

Not only that, but the fact that my hip quiver could hold a maximum of twenty arrows, so, obviously, I had eight left. There were more in my endless pouch, but there was a chance that the next group had more members, so I could not afford to miss as much as I had. With these thoughts in mind, I relaxed, and told Megumin the heading that she should be taking to reach the next camp.

It took a few minutes, and during that time, I restocked my quiver, and took out a 'new' piece of equipment I had helped design, just in case. It was a variant of arrow, from a selection I had made. I had one of each in the set, and I wanted to keep the prototype to sell the plans, but it seemed that I may need to use them.

In the distance, I saw a pool of orange light, and then people standing up. Form what I could see, there were several bodies on the floor.

"We are too late to save this group," I said. "Carry on. I will deal with them. Don't stop moving."

I knocked my new piece of equipment. It was a replica of the 'bomb arrow' that I had used in hyrule. It was, again the only one I had, but it would come in hand now, like I thought it would. It had a much shorter range and accuracy than a normal arrow, but you could still get a good fifty metres out of it with a good bow. It used rune magic in a way that it would produce an explosion on impact.

"Straight toward them," I told Megumin. "Turn away only when I say."

Onyx had noticed us now, and they turned to us and drew their swords.

I drew the bow string and let the arrow fly. A burst of light and a ringing sound in my ears told me that I had hit my target.

We sped on.

The next camp had an archer, so I jumped off of the horse as I was passing, and in the time where Megumin was coming back for me, I took them all out with my master sword.

The night was a long one. Moving to the next camp. Killing the enemies, next camp. Each individual camp was easy enough to liberate, but the sheer number of them that we were taking on was taking its immeasurable toll on both of us. Megumin was almost falling asleep at all times, and I was missing more and more of my shots. The initial adrenalyn of the fight had worn off, and the repetitiveness of everything seemed to stretch the hours into days, all clad in black.

I almost died fighting in close-range combat soon after the halfway mark, getting a bad cut in the side of the stomach, which later turned out to be infected. My reactions were slowing from fatigue.

I stabbed the last bandit in the camp after failing to completely dodge his shot, and he fell to the floor, dead. My knees buckled, and I almost fell, but I managed to catch myself on my sword, which sunk deep into the ground under my weight. I had a job getting it out, and when I was done, Megumin rode up to me on the horse slowly.

She held out a hand as if to help me up, and I took it, but there was very little upward pull, and she failed to pull me up. Megumin crumpled and fell into my arms. I also almost toppled from this as well, despite her light weight. Her head was against my chest, completely unconscious from fatigue.

It was then that I decided that our wellbeing was more important than the mission and that if we were to press on, we would inevitably both die.

I took managed to find the strength to lift Megumin on to the horse. I strapped her in front of me so she didn't fall.

I snapped the reigns and the horse began trotting. It was just as tired as us, however, and soon it completely stopped.

I cut the rope, and picked up Megumin. I stumbled forward, my headache getting worse. Carrying my own weight was hard in itself, and carrying Megumin at the same time was not feasible.

I pressed on anyway.

After what genuinely seemed like days, I spotted a bright light on the horizon. The capital. The light grew however, faster than it should have.

I was wrong.

What I mistook for a city had been the sun. I must have gone off course. The sun was rising, I had been running and fighting all night. I hadn't eaten, I sustained several injuries. Here I was, close to death.

On top of carrying Megumin, I had no idea where I was. It was a wasteland, with no trees, animals or water in sight.

I collapsed. I managed to cushion Megumin's fall, but she still woke up. She too, was still too exhausted to get up.

I turned my head Megumin, to find that she was already looking at me. I mouthed two words:

" _I'm sorry."_

She shook her head and smiled. Her red eyes were glowing softly.

All of this was my fault, but she was forgiving me this easily? I didn't deserve it.

Megumin took my hand, and we both looked to the sky.

This would be an okay place to die.

* * *

 **Part 5: (Kazuma)**

After Link and Megumin had left through the forest, I turned to the rest of my teammates.

"Well, we need to follow them, but we will do it by road. The carriage won't be able to go through the forest," I said, "Darkness, put Dandridge in the cart, Aqua, set up an enemy detection circle that can detect anything a kilometre from the cart."

With no words, Aqua and Darkness proceeded to follow my orders. In under two minutes, we were on the road, moving around the forest. It was then that Darkness spoke for the first time.

"Would it not be better to go straight to the capital, to get Backup?" She asked.

It was a fair question, and I myself had considered this plan for a while. But there was a flaw.

"We will be in constant detection range of Link and Megumin, and if they are getting tired, or if they fail, then we will request Backup. However, if we do, we would be leaving Link, Megumin, and the Nobles that they left with no help."

"I see," Darkness said. "Even if we were to get help, it would probably arrive too late."

"Exactly, It should only be used as a last resort," I affirmed.

With Darkness's only question answered, we continued the journey in silence. We had almost rounded the forest before I heard a shout from Aqua.

"They are approaching the site of the first attack. The noble is alive, they should be engaging shortly."

I nodded in recognition of her statement as we rounded the path, and the bandits were in view. Link was not visible, so I activated 'Night vision' and 'Enemy detection'. Everything was now bathed in Light green, so I could see. Any threats showed up in red.

With my enhanced vision, I could see Link far away from the Bandits, crouching on a horse which Megumin was riding. He was looking down the length of his bow, which had an arrow knocked. After a few seconds, he let it fly. It was great shooting: the arrow sailed high into the air, curving slightly with the wind, and after two or three seconds, it hit it's target: in the neck of the largest bandit.

Over the next minute, several more arrows rained down on the attackers, and none were left standing. I disabled my vision buffs, and headed toward the remaining pocked of Light that was now a Graveyard.

By the time we reached the survivors, Link was long gone. The noble himself looked terrified. Rightfully.

"We are here to save you. It was our comrade who just shot those people down."

Recognition showed in their eyes, and they nodded. They vigorously thanked us as we cut their bonds.

Behind me, a voice could be heard.

"Could it be that you are Satou Kazuma?" The noble asked.

I spun around, astounded.

"How does someone such as yourself know my name?"

I understood as the Noble held up one of the arrows that Link had shot.

"These are ash arrows, and they have blue and white feathers!" He said excitedly. "These belong to Link-san! We are saved!"

"I do believe _I_ was the one who saved you." This guy was annoying me. He reminded me painfully as the breed of human called _Fanboy._

"Yes, but I mean the capital. A minute ago, I was sure that the capital was going to fall." He responded to my point with a dismissive wave.

"Yes, well, as the party _leader,_ I made a plan. Which involves _you,_ " I pointed at him, gritting my teeth "Getting in _there_." I said, pointing at the carriage.

"Oh, I see."

He got in.

"Well, that went down with less argument than I expected," I told Darkness.

"I quite agree."

The night went on. The next set of bandits that Link killed had already murdered the Noble they were assigned to attack. He blew them up, and went on. After what Darkness later told me was about four hours, Link suffered his first injury. Together, we had saved seven nobles, and killed fifteen bandit camps, but his movement was slowing down after hours of combat. It was just unlucky that the first wound was a bad one.

"Link has been hit!" Aqua called, still monitoring the situation. "It's a bad cut to the side of the ribs! No vitals have been hit, but the cut is close enough to the heart that blood poisoning is a large possibility!"

I turned to Darkness. " _This_ is the situation where we will go to the capital for back up."

Wordlessly, Darkness nodded, and altered her course, speeding up. Within an hour, we had made it to the capital. We were stopped by some guards at the gate.

"Let us in! We have urgent information for the King!" I shouted.

"We have not been given the authorization to let anybody enter at this time of the night."

"We need help! Our friend has-" I began, but Darkness cut me off by holding her hand in front of me.

"There has been a mass attack of all of the nobles travelling to the capital from surrounding cities. Several are already dead. I, Dustiness Lalatina, and Satou Kazuma have helped to save these seven good people in the back. The eighth is Dandridge-sama, then noble that we were assigned to escort in the first place. Even now, there is a Knight of a much higher calibre than you risking his life to save the capital itself."

The guards had shut up as soon as Darkness showed her family crest to them. They were stunned completely when they found that she was telling the truth: There were indeed eight High-Rank nobles in the carriage.

"As I said, we have to see the King." Darkness pressed.

"W-well, your situation c-certainly w-warrants that…" One guard said, while another ran to inform the king.

We were escorted into the city. If it were for good news, I may have admired the architecture, which was indeed stunning. Or the sheer size. The wall was twice as tall as that of Axel's, and just the high street was kilometres long.

But it was midnight, and there was nobody around, except for a familiar member of royalty making his way toward me, for grim reasons, to say the least.

"Kazuma-san, it's been a while." The king said.

"You too my lord, however, can I have the permission to skip the formalities, we are running short on time," I told him.

"I understand. A clairvoyant told me that there would be trouble tonight. Seeing as you are missing two party members, I am assuming that you are asking for help in saving them."

I nodded.

The king had read me so well. As Link had once told me, politicians really are a different breed of human.

"Normally, I would decline, but seeing how much you, Link-san, and the rest of your party have done for the country tonight, I accept." The King said.

I let out a long breath.

"All right. When can you be ready?" I asked. That was slightly rude, but the King seemed to take it well.

"Ah. You misunderstand me. You have done well. Your duty tonight is over. These guards here will escort you to your rooms in the palace." He said. "Where you will have a long rest. Kazuma especially."

I wanted to help, but I knew I would collapse from fatigue if I went any farther. I began following the assigned guards up the high street, feeling guilty.

I consoled myself with a thought.

 _Link and Megumin would want me to rest_.

* * *

Authors Note: This chapter was much shorter than usual, for reasons that could have been prevented, but weren't anyway. Sorry about that. Thing is, the way I write is that I spend two hours or so per day writing, aiming for 1000 words every day Monday through Saturday. On Sunday, I proofread, spell-check, then upload. This week, I missed several days, so I wrote most of this chapter in one sitting. If this chapter seemed rushed, that would probably be the reason. It is also the reason that it is shorter than normal. From now on, if I miss a day, I won't rush the next day. I will always aim for 6000 words, but sometimes in the future it might be less than that. In other words, Quality over Quantity. You shouldn't see much difference, except that from time to time the chapter will be from 5000-6000 words instead of 6000-7000. I hope you don't mind. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter anyway! See you in the next one!


	8. Mini chapter

Authors Note: So, as you can probably see from the scroll bar, this chapter is tiny, so it is not a chapter as such. Because of reasons, I must use my phone to write this chapter. I don't know why, but it is infinity harder to write good quality stories on a phone than it is on a proper computer. Don't ask me why, all I know is that it is. I decided to just miss this week, but I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing, so here is a mini-chapter. Enjoy!

 **Kazuma**

Link had been being quite mean lately. Doing one quest every day was no longer enough for him, and he insisted on us all doing our best to level up outside of our normal missions. Obviously we didn't make any amount of considerable effort to comply. Were we abusing Link's passive nature? Of course. Was Darkness looking down on Megumin, Aqua and I for doing so? Definitely. Did we feel guilty about our immorality? No.

In order to follow her own noble ideals, however, Darkness was unable to declare our delinquency to Link, so she just got on with leveling up herself, and avoiding us at all costs. Her mindset did not change when Link declared that he was giving us the next couple of days off to level up independently.

During the first day, I defeated exactly one monster. It was an extremely low-level one, that I had accidentally encountered in a dungeon entrance, while I was on my way to meet Aqua for the first snack 'break' of the day.

During the second day, I gained precisely three experience points, for courageously overpowering an extremely annoying fly that had landed on my sandwich while I was eating lunch with Megumin.

"Do you feel bad at all?" I asked her, looking up from my food.

"About what?" She replied. She knew quite well what I meant, she just enjoys seeing me suffer.

"You know..."

"Utterly ignoring Link's continued kindness, and maltreating our relationship, by exploiting the definitive fact that he will surely do nothing about our disrespect?" She asked.

"Y-yeah..." I admitted.

"No, why?" She asked seriously, taking a bite of her frog leg.

This child was here spouting words that you would only otherwise find in a thesaurus, but perfectly summarising what was on my mind anyway, and showing no emotion at taking advantage of her best friend.

She had bigger balls than me.

"Is Kazuma feeling guilty after all? Maybe your degenerancy levels are lower than I thought." Megumin said, getting up.

As it was Megumin who was talking, I thought it best not to say anything stupid, as her volatile disposition would most likely leave me on the ground, in a large amount of discomfort.

"Anyway, Link said that we were to meet him in an hour," Megumin said, getting up, "You might want to use that time to mentally prepare yourself. While in no way will Link use physical pain as a punishment, there are many other ways in which he may react to the fact that we slacked off during these two days."

I did just that.

Having spent the last hour cramming as much training as was possible with a stomach full of food, I was heading back to the guild after exploring some of the surface layers of the same dungeon as earlier. I had gained two whole levels. During one of these upgrades, I had gained two skill points instead of one, so I had three.

Feeling confident about my progress, I remained on my path, making my way toward the Guild, where Link had wanted to convene after our independent grinds. Three skill points was not even nearly enough to convince him that I had been working from beginning to end, but perhaps it was sufficient to somewhat alleviate Link's contained anger.

"137!?" Aqua shouted in disbelief. "Where did you get that many skill points!?"

"Well, I've been grinding, but most of it is from defeating Verdia." Link said.

"I can also appreciate that that is a lot of skill points," Darkness said. "Would you mind informing me of your current level? Actually, could you show me your Adventurers card?"

"Umm... If course.." Link said, taking it out of his pocket, he tried to look at it, but was unable to before Megumin snatched it out of his hand.

"Level 43." She said. "Hmm, although, he has not spent any of his skill points or attribute points. Any reason for that?" She asked, looking up at Link.

"Well, I was going to ask a specialist when we go to the capital..."

"About what?"

"Well, about how I should build my Levels." Link explained.

"Makes sense. However, I advise learning explosion magic, as it is the greatest of all existing skills." Megumin said seriously, handing the adventurers card to Darkness.

"I-I'll keep that in mind."

Poor Link. Because of his affiliations of a deranged crimson demon, it seemed that he may be forced to learn a skill that did not at all suit him. Something told me that he would not be pressured into that though.

While Darkness was studying Link's card, the latter made an obvious attempt to change the course of the conversation in a direction he thought he would like, but chose the exact wrong question to ask, because he would just be disappointed with the answer.

"So, how much progress did you guys make?" He asked.

"Er- well, you see..." I began.

"-I have gained six levels over the past two days, and thirteen skill points." Megumin interrupted, effectively silencing me.

The loli went and acted like she had disregarded Links instructions, by the way she had been talking at lunch earlier, but she had, in fact, also been grinding after all. Good for her. It was me I had to worry about.

"Kazuma?" Link addressed me.

"Two levels and three skill points." I said quickly.

He looked at me, seeing right through my feeble attempt at acting like I did nothing wrong. He seemed to be thinking. He opened his mouth, but closed it again, as if deciding against saying something.

"At least use them on something useful." He said, managing to cover up his disappointment. "So, Megumin-chan is on level twenty-two, Kazuma is on seventeen... What about you Darkness?"

She handed back Link's adventuring card.

"I am on twenty-six, having gained seven levels in the past two days. I have fourteen skill points at my disposal."

Link nodded. "Aqua?"

Aqua, at having her name spoken, jumped, and turned around. She had been spilt inching away from us, suspiciously whistling.

"nthng." She mumbled.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Nothing okay? I am still level fifteen." She said.

"There it is!" Link sighed.

"Would you mind explaining what you mean?" I asked him.

"I knew at least one of you would slack off! Although I expected it to be you Kazuma..." He said. "Well, that decides where we are going tonight!"

"Would you enlighten me as to what you are talking about?" Megumin asked.

"Well, I had readied three kill quests. One directly suited for each of you, excluding Darkness, because I knew that she would do as I said. If it was Megumin that made no effort, I would have taken her to blow up a dragon. If it was you, Kazuma, I would have had weakened a group of lizard runners and had you make the last hit." Link explained, with a smile on his face. He turned to Aqua. "As it was you, I am taking you to a forest that is said to be haunted. I want you to spend tonight grinding until you reach at least level twenty."

Aqua, surprisingly, did not try to talk her way out of it. Maybe she was already aware of the fact that she would never succeed. Or perhaps she had already grown used to the workload that Link was giving us. Hmm. Link WAS the one giving us the work.

"Hey, In case you have forgotten, I am the party leader, I will decide where we go." I made an attempt to assert dominance.

Link did not falter in his stride. He turned to me.

"And, as a good captain, who only assumes his role when it suits him, like now, and neglects it whenever I say something he likes, like these past two days off, do you believe that a level fifteen arch-priest who has spent the last two days slacking off will gain the experience needed to fight alongside us, by watching me, Megumin, and Darkness do all of the work?" He asked.

Oh, how the tables had turned. While I could normally talk my way out of almost anything, Link was a different matter. He had somehow managed to state his point in such a way that I was forced to change my mind, assert dominance even though he was shorter than me, insult me, all without even being a little aggressive.

"O-oh w-well, I guess n-not."

Aqua had been looking between us, watching our verbal fight. When she realised that her fighter had been OHKO'd, she drew a long sigh, as If resigning herself to defeat.

At sunset, I found myself walking through a haunted forest, with Link and Megumin to one side of me. Darkness was behind us, in an attempt to get herself hopelessly lost, for whatever reason.

It was not long before we happened upon a graveyard.

"Funny. No one mentioned that this was here…" Link trailed off and shrugged. He called out. "Hey Aqua! How's it going?"

"Shush!" She hissed, then kneeled down, gesturing for us to do the same.

Link asked no questions, he hit the ground, pulling me down with him.

He crawled toward Aqua, and began talking quietly. At this distance. I couldn't hear any of what he was saying. By Aqua's expression, I could see that their conversation must be half important. Being the good party leader that I am, who cares deeply about the important affairs of his team, I advanced as well.

"...do you think she will be aggressive?" Link was muttering in question.

"I can't say for sure, but she is a Litch, so probably." Aqua returned.

"She's hot." I said.

They both looked at me, decided that they wished they hadn't, and looked away.

"Here is the plan." Link said. "I will go out first, and-"

"-I do believe that _I_ am the captain?" I interrupted.

"Alright then, what should we do?" Aqua was becoming impatient.

"Haha, well I am glad you asked!" I turned to Link. "I want you to go out first, to try her strengths, and whether or not she is aggressive. Aqua, you follow if you see fit."

If Link was annoyed at all, he didn't show it. He got up, and began advancing toward the woman chanting in the centre of the graveyard.

She noticed him instantly. She twirled around, and shot a jet of what looked like ice at him.

If not for his quick reflexes, Link would have been killed. As it stood, he blocked it with the shield that had appeared on his arm. In his other arm lay the master sword, it's blue-grey blade glinting in the evening sun.

The woman looked mortified as Link charged at her, with his sword out. She yelped and stuck out her hand. A barrier of blue ice erected itself in front of her. The Master Sword slashed downwards on it, but the barrier held, and the sword glanced off of it.

Seeing this, Link retreated for a second in surprise. His sword then glowed a bright blue, very similar to the way that Megumin's staff went red. The air around it sizzled with power, and Link held it up to the sky. It now grew so bright that it was hard to look at, and he charged again.

Instead of swiping this time, Link drew the sword back, preparing for a powerful stab. When it made contact with the wall of ice, it was obvious what was going to happen.

The Barrier instantly shattered, and the pieces fell to the ground. Instead of continuing his stab however, Link jumped backwards. The woman froze in surprise, and that was when Aqua headlocked her from behind.

"Don't move Litch. I am an arch priest, and if you do anything, I will cast sacred turn undead." Aqua told her.

It was then that the Litch burst into tears. Unexpected was an understatement. She had taken on a high level knight, and an arch priest, and almost matched them. Now she was crying something about 'Not hurting anybody!'

"Quit your whining Litch! I should purify you right now!" Aqua seemed to be enjoying this.

Link seemed to be in a similar mindset. It was time for me to step in.

"Hey guys.. Let's at least listen to what she has to say!" I called, jogging up to them. Megumin stayed behind to look for Darkness, who had disappeared.

Link reclaimed a bit of his rationality, and nodded. Aqua was not as happy.

"She is a Litch! A servant of the devil King! She doesn't deserve to live!"

Link was fully on my side now, after hearing Aqua's psychotic intentions.

"Aqua, if you do not let her explain herself, you will be considered the attacker, because she made no offensive moves towards you."

This was a lie, and Link knew it.

Aqua didn't.

"Hmpfh!" She said something along the lines of that, and strut away.

I turned to the Litch.

"We don't mean to harm you." I said. "But we do need to know what you were doing. You see, we had some claims that this place is haunted, and you being a Litch does not help your situation."

She seemed to calm down a bit when Aqua left.

"I-I see." She said, then took a deep breath. "Well, my name is Wiz, I am, as your friend said, a Litch. But I have never hurt a human, and I don't want to. It was an accidental reaction when I fired at you. And as to what I was doing…. Well, you see, when somebody dies, their body needs to be blessed by a special priest, or their souls will not be able to pass on to the afterlife. Some people don't have the money to hire a priest, or they have a different religion."

(a/n: This is not me stating any religious facts of any kind! This is just what I understand it to be like in the world of Konosuba. So, no offense intended to anybody of any religion!)

"So I assume you were guiding the soul that were never blessed?" Link asked.

Wiz nodded her head.

"Now we know." I said. "You can continue if you want. But if I need to reach you again, where will you be?"

"Why would you need to reach me again?" Wiz asked.

"Several reasons. If another quest regarding the undead comes up, I might need to ask you for help. I am also the weakest in my party, due to a severe lack of useful skills, so I am looking for a magic-user that I can trust, as asking Aqua is out of the question, and though Megumin _would_ teach me her explosion, I don't want to learn that." I said. "I-If y-you are interested." Where did that confidence go?

"Of course. I will always be at what used to be Nobuyuki-san's magic shop. I am in the process of turning it into Wiz's Magic shop." She said.

"What happened to Nobuyuki-san?" Link asked.

"Um, he moved to the capital I think…"

"Oh. Okay. I guess I will see him soon then. I _did_ want to talk to him."

Authors note: I ran out of time, so sorry for the bad ending. Next week there will be a full size chapter, so look forward to that. It was only filler after that part, but sorry for ending the chapter abruptly anyway. Anyway, please review, and see you in the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 8

**Part 1: (Kazuma)**

I had been lying in bed for hours. I had accepted it out of need, unable to continue fighting or riding, as I was so tired. I had come here out of acceptance, that I would collapse before the search party for Link and Megumin was up. About a half hour after I had reached the capital, somebody had come in to notify me that the party had been mobilised, and were out looking for my remaining party members.

I was trying to sleep, tossing and turning in my bed, but rest was almost impossible. I was here, lying in a palace of all places, while strangers were out saving my friends. I was continuously consoling myself with a single thought, that I would not be able to help them, even if I _did_ stand up now. I seriously doubted that I would even make it to the door.

No, I was useless.

The hours I spent from when I arrived until sunrise was spent feeling tired, guilty and dead.

Maybe there was some sleep hidden in there, but there was no rest. If there was any time where I _was_ unconscious, it was fitful, no more than five minutes at a time. Somehow, that was even worse than no sleep.

It was about fifteen minutes after sunrise that another messenger came into the room.

"I have been notified that your friends have been found. Whether or not they are alive, I have not been told…"

The person seemed to be waiting for a response, but after he realised that he wasn't getting one, he left silently.

Was that better or worse? Probably better, because if they had been captured by the enemy, they might have still been killed. Now I knew they were either dead or alive. It wasn't much but it was something. Not enough to lift me from my mood. Not Aqua nor Darkness had come in, so I could assume that they were in a similar mindset to me.

Another half hour passed, in which I finally managed to get some sleep.

When the same messenger as before came in and told me that Link and Megumin were back, I jumped. It was as much of a jump as was possible in my condition, which was little more than lifting my head faster than normal.

"Where are they?" I asked, hardly daring to believe it, just in case.

"This way." The man smiled.

I couldn't tell if it was a smile of friendliness, happiness or pity, but it helped.

I followed the man to Aqua's and Darkness's room, where they both had a very similar reaction to me. As we were walking down the hall, it occurred to me that we still hadn't change out of our adventuring clothes. I winced as I imagined the state of the expensive beds that we had most likely just ruined.

We reached a door at the end of the corridor, which we entered, to see a bed surrounded by a lot of expensive looking medical equipment.

In the bed lay Link and Megumin, both unmoving. Despite this, I relaxed a little, seeing nothing out of order on what appeared to be a magical ECG.

"What happened to them?" I asked the doctor who was sitting beside them.

"They are both out from fatigue, and dehydration. The boy has also suffered a bad cut beside his stomach, which needs disinfecting when he wakes up, or he will die of blood poisoning." He turned to look at me. "I will need your help with that."

For some reason, that made me shiver. I would get to that later.

"Will they live?" I asked.

"The girl will live unless somebody kills her. The boy will live unless we fail in disinfecting this cut." The doctor said. "As I thought I had already made clear."

I turned to the knights who hadn't left the room.

"And why did you put them in the same bed?" I asked, with my more pressing questions out of the way.

The knight looked very surprised at being addressed, and stuttered a little while talking.

"W-we assumed that...W-well, they were o-on the ground, h-holding hands when we found them…" The man trailed off twice.

Oho! That would be useful information. "Were they now?" I said slowly.

"Kazuma, Kazuma, the rate at which your expression just changed was truly terrifying, so could you please wipe that scary look off your face?" It was Aqua.

"I would appreciate that as well Kazuma, besides, it is not any of our business." Darkness told me.

Pah! Going and ruining my fun like that. What great friends!

"Kazuma-san, would you mind helping me take Link to another room? We have to operate on his wound." The doctor said.

We rolled Link onto a stretcher carefully, and carried him to an adjacent room, which had a white marble uprising from the floor, almost like an operating table.

"It's an operating table," The doctor explained.

It _did_ look like an operating table, after all.

"As I feel like I have said a thousand times, we need to disinfect this cut he has," The doctor said. "I am going to pour hot rubbing alcohol on it, which will kill the bacteria that has invaded his body. It will cause him a lot of pain, so I need you to hold him down."

A familiar thought was making its way through my mind. _What is up with this worlds game balance!?_ This word had ECG and rubbing alcohol, but no level of painkillers!?

"Erm…You might want to get somebody else… Wait a minute… DARKNESS!" I called on my personal viking to come and help me.

She instantly threw the door open, and came running in, reminding me of when it was Yun-Yun who was hiding behind the door. She looked at me expectantly.

"I need you to hold Link down," I said, pointing to him.

"I see…" Darkness got in position.

The Doctor looked highly affronted, perhaps unable to comprehend such a quick turn in events.

"I-is this okay?" He asked.

"What?"

Maybe he was talking about the fact that Darkness was female and Link was shirtless. How pampered these capital residents were!

Darkness didn't seem to understand.

The doctor shook his head and muttered something along the lines of _'barbarians'_ But then he agreed.

He brought a wet-looking white towel, and nodded to Darkness, who restrained Link's arms and legs.

The doctor rolled up the towel, then pressed it to Link's wound. A faint sizzling was heard as it made contact, and Link woke up. His back arched, but he managed not to scream. He was resisting, as was obvious natural instinct. He was strong, but stood no chance against Darkness's grip.

After a minute, the Doctor took the towel off. He then instructed us to leave the room, as he finished up.

When we left, who else would we run into but the King himself?

"Ah. Kazuma-san! Just who I was looking for. Could you come with me, please? Assuming, of course, that you have recovered?"

It was the King. How could I say no?

* * *

 **Part 2: (Darkness)**

"I need you to join the tournament." The King said.

He had led us to what seemed to be a dining room, but it was easily twice the size of the guild in Axel.

What I would give to be part of such a thing! Eight Knights, all of higher levels than me, battling it out to be champion! I would be humiliated in front of the entire population of the capital! What if… What if…!

"Is there a punishment for the loser!?" I shouted.

"There is no such thing." The King said. "And I was talking to Kazuma-san."

"Ah? Were you now?" Kazuma asked.

"I was."

Kazuma was smiling passively. "Well, in that case, I am going to have to formally decline."

The king seemed to be in a bad mood. "Well, I'm going to have to disagree." He mimicked Kazuma's tone. "You _are_ going to be competing."

Kazuma turned and left.

"Where are you going?" The king asked.

"To write my will," Kazuma said.

The king took a deep breath as, if talking to a retard. Which, in a way, he was.

"Murder will not be tolerated, as I am sure Link told you." He said slowly.

"Nah, Link doesn't tell me anything that doesn't concern me," Kazuma told the King pointedly.

The meaning was not lost on him.

"I am willing to ignore your sarcasm this time. Should it happen again, I will not be so lenient." The King said sternly.

"Why do I need to compete anyway?"

Poor Kazuma. He was already talking as if he had lost.

"One of the Knights that were competing was killed before the tournament- he was some sort of secret rouge- by none other than you and Link himself. Normally, the position would go to Link, but he is already in the tournament, so we had him choose someone else to compete. He nominated you. So you _will_ be competing."

"I have lost," Kazuma said.

Oh okay.

"I will compete, but don't expect anything good from me, I'm level eighteen." He continued.

The King, however, was not backing down. Watching the fight was somewhat a spectacle, and very amusing to see the argumentative powers of the kingdom's leader, against the feeble resistance that was Satou Kazuma.

"That will not be good enough. You will match the competition at the minimum. I expect to see you do great things."

Kazuma's tone was getting weaker and weaker, and it became evident when he asked: "H-How?"

"From what I know, Link is a reasonable person, and I am sure that, If he had the means, he would split the exp that he gained from the night with his comrades that helped tremendously, though they killed no enemies." The king said.

"I assume ho have the means to?"

"We do."

I chose this moment to speak.

"If Kazuma is really to compete in this tournament, I would like to give my share of the earnings to him, as he would only laze off afterwards, and never gain it. He, unlike me, has no capacity to work hard."

If Kazuma was indignant, he didn't show it.

The king handed him a glass bottle, full of a strange yellow-green liquid, which Kazuma looked apprehensive about, but drank anyway following a murderous glare for the king, who had had enough.

Kazuma was already looking bored.

"And?"

"Look at your adventurer's card."

He did, and his eyes widened. He had frozen in shock, so I received no response to my questioning look. I looked myself.

He was level thirty. The drink must have also contained a skill point multiplier, because he was on exactly fifty skill points.

I looked up to see that the King had left, along with Kazuma out of the opposite door.

* * *

 **Part 3: (Megumin)**

Somehow, when I woke up, I felt great. I hadn't suffered any mortal wounds of any sort, and my exhaustion was gone. I felt great, but, in reality, that was not my first thought. I am ashamed to admit that I was a little delirious at first. I ask that you do not judge me after hearing this, because if you ponder it further, you can realise that I had just found out that I was not, in fact, dead. Yes, that alone should not have been enough to make me panic, but I also had several strange tubes running into my body, Link was nowhere in sight, and I was lying in what seemed to be a very expensive four-poster bed. While this was nothing to exactly _complain_ about, it _was_ something else to add to my growing list of irregularities.

So, I was a little delirious.

And, yes, I panicked a little.

While an attendant calmed me down, and called for a Doctor to re-attach the life-support systems that I had just ripped off me, Link came in, and I finally relaxed.

"I would be appreciative if you told me what is going on," I told him.

"People found us before just after we lost consciousness. They performed several treatments on us, and succeeded. About three hours ago, they disinfected my wound, then had Aqua heal it, and now I'm feeling fantastic. Oh, and-" He turned to the attendant, "The doctor sent me. He said that if she is strong enough to demolish his equipment, then she is strong enough to get up."

I didn't wait, I jumped up, and immediately got a headache. No, this was not some side effect of medicine, or a case of the doctor being wrong.

I just stood up too fast.

"I am well aware that you have just woken up, but I have many things that I need to get done, so can we meet up with Kazuma and the others?" Link asked.

"I will be happy to. Honestly, I am needing things to return to normal." I said, to which Link laughed.

"Good luck with that." He said.

This was intriguing, to say the least. "What do you mean?"

"Kazuma may be about to become the strongest in our party, and I am actually lost for what to do next." He said.

"Well, that is surprising. Actually, I don't quite believe you."

"Come and see."

He led me to an opening in which we waited. It wasn't long before Kazuma and Aqua arrived. Darkness was a little late, but not by much.

"Link-san," Kazuma said. "I congratulate you on your position in the tournament, but may I ask why you decided to rope me into your struggles?"

"Well, you see, it was-" Link said, but was drowned out by Kazuma.

"Ah, I see, you thought I was the best choice because I am the strongest and smartest of us all?" Kazuma interrupted loudly.

"Actually, I was going to say that yours was the first name that came into my head when they asked me." Link said.

"It seems that Kazuma was unable to hear Link because of a serious illness," I spoke.

"And what would that be Megumin-san?" Kazuma questioned.

"RIHS. Pronounced Re-eese."

Aqua frowned. "I've never heard of that. What does it stand for?"

"Rapidly Inflating Head Syndrome."

Kazuma was immediately riled up.

"Look here little girl, aren't you the one constantly boasting about being a 'genius,' and that you 'wield the number-one spell'?! Don't talk to me about my large ego, because yours is no better!" He shouted, to which Megumin grinned, and spoke in a measured voice.

"At least my claims are justified. You, on the other hand, are spouting nonsense."

"A loli such as yourself shouldn't-"

"Shut up both of you." Link interjected.

"Thank you Link, and I speak for Kazuma as well when I say that."

"Why is that then?" Kazuma asked.

"Because if you had finished that sentence, I would have castrated you," I told him.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"Look it up," I told him.

"Don't." Link said.

The next few seconds passed in silence, all three of us staring each other out, while Aqua and Darkness watched from the sidelines.

The latter broke the silence, reading from a heavy-looking book that she had seemingly conjured out of the air.

"Definition of castrate. One. To deprive (a male animal or person) of the testes." She said.

It was a dictionary.

Seeing as Link's attempt at peace was about to fail miserably, I, at the time thinking that it was a good idea, provoked him further.

"Depriving an animal such as Kazuma of his genitalia seems a good idea to me, as they would fetch a good price on the black market. Really, it is perfect, seeing as he won't be needing them anyway."

It goes without saying that it took a while to calm Kazuma down. In finality, the single reason that he did was because he knew I enjoyed seeing him agitated.

So, ten minutes later we were down to business. This just meant a conversation change, and in no way signified a change in the level of professionalism. On the best days, our party had two different frames of mind: Asleep and Awake. Our civility having just been at an all-time low, with Kazuma throwing me dirty looks every other second, as if imagining me slowly burning at a stake, Link was getting annoyed.

"It seems that Kazuma-san is trying his absolute hardest to die in the coming tournament, as he is not paying attention to me, while I am telling him the flaws in my battle style, as well as common weak points for Fast Knights, Crusaders, Dark Knights, Paladins and Alchemists."

As was the norm with Link's psyche, he did not raise his voice, but his words were colder and sharper than his usual smooth tone, so you could tell that he was angry.

"I-I'm sorry."

It made even the great, unbeatable warrior Kazuma- _san_ quake in his boots.

I decided not to voice my sarcastic opinion this time.

" _Anyway,_ as I was saying. You could meet all types of Knight classes during this tournament. Most of the main ones have specific weaknesses, so the contestants who try to win through brute strength will be the first to get knocked out, as soon as they face somebody who counters them." Link said.

"I don't care about the others, I just want to win. And not die." Kazuma said.

"As I was going to _say…._ You have the tools to wipe everybody. The adventurers class is underrated, as you are able to learn counters for every single other class out there. The reason that it has a bad reputation is that you earn very few skill points per level. But because of the King's potion which contained the levels I gained last night, along with the skill points…"

"-I can learn to counter everything in this tournament."

"You can."

Silence followed, to let this sink in.

Wow. Kazuma may actually get stronger than Link.

"Now you have two choices. You can get to know more about the other contestants, and build your levels based on the tournament alone. Or, you could consider any scenario, and proceed in an attempt to use this stroke of luck to build an adventurer that is strong in general."

"What do you think I should do?"

"I think that you should go with the latter, because if you don't win, I will."

"Oh yeah," Kazuma sighed in realisation, "You are competing as well... What are your weaknesses then?"

Link laughed. "I can't tell you that. If I did, I would be forced to acknowledge them, and do something to patch them up, by the rules of the competition. However, I can tell you that most AOE attacks are useless against all Dark Knights. Alchemists are best at medium range, and will do everything they can to keep you at that range, because they are useless in close-quarters. Crusaders, while tough, will find it hard to get close if you stay far away. Paladins are the same. In addition, their strongest magic relies on daylight access." Link grinned. "Do what you will with that information."

He turned on his heel, and left, muttering something about a magic shop.

* * *

 **Part 4: (Link)**

With my point (finally) across to Kazuma, I left to do my own training, though it was going to be very different to what I recommended to Kazuma.

Kazuma had enough levels to scrape a win, if his strategy game was up to its usual par. Me, on the other hand, had gone slack in that aspect of combat, as most enemies since I had become strong were defeatable with relative ease. This tournament would be different however.

I was level forty-four; I would only be a little above the mean at best, so I would be unable to force my way to victory through only brute strength. In order to win, I would have to study the other contestants, and make a plan of action for all possible scenarios.

My problem was that I could not learn just any skill, and counter everything with type effectiveness, like Kazuma could.

The skill set for a fast Knight was very limited, from what I had heard. It was so in order to counter the ridiculous agility stat of the class.

They had some skills though, I just had to consult an old friend for advice.

It took me almost an hour of asking around to find it, but I eventually found myself entering a new-looking shop, that had apparently not opened up yet.

I pushed the door open, and entered. A voice came from behind several stacks of boxes.

"I'm sorry, but we are not open yet. Come back in a few days and I will have everything ready." It said.

The owner of the voice rounded the stack of boxes, and his face broke into a smile.

"Link-san! It has been too long!" Nobuyuki said.

"It's only been a few couple of weeks," I replied, smiling as well.

"Which is far too long when one has made as much progress as you! I head you defeated Verdia!" He said.

"Yes well-"

"And you are the favourite to win this tournament did you know!?"

I stopped short at this.

"Really?"

"Of course!" He said.

A pause followed.

"Actually, it was about that that I wanted to talk."

"Talk away! Actually, come here to the back, and we can have some tea." Nobuyuki offered.

"Thank you very much."

A comfortable lack of words preceded for the next ten minutes, in which Nobuyuki was making tea, and I was sitting in a small sitting room, deep in thought.

Nobuyuki joined me.

"So, Link-san, I assume you wanted to talk strategy."

"I do." I affirmed.

"Well, I don't know why you came to me, but I will do my best to help."

"Well, I am asking you because I want some magic skills, and you were the first person to ask."

He nodded slowly. "What do you have in mind?" He asked.

"Well, I honestly have no idea what would be good. The best thing would be to have a wide range of abilities, but with my class, I don't know if that is possible."

Nobuyuki went silent for a moment, in thought.

"While your class _is_ limited in terms of magic attacks, there are a few elemental melee attacks that you can learn. They would really be perfect for you, seeing as you only use your shield when you need it. If battle one-handed, you would be able to surprise opponents with a magic attack."

"What kind?" This seemed like a lead I could follow.

"Well, there are the basic elemental palms. Flaring, Sparking, and Freezing. They will cost eight points or so each, but I assume you have more than enough."

"I do." I told him.

"Well, think of each one as a keystone. Once you learn one or more of them, you will be able to learn other elemental attacks. For instance, if you learn the melee flaming attack, you will gain access to a medium ranged Fire attack, then a Long-ranged one. After that, you will gain access to the next fire-based attack. Do you understand?" He asked me.

"Yes. But you told me Magic attacks for my class are limited… It seems to me as if I have many options open to me." I said.

"Ah, but there is a catch. While your class has access to these magic attacks, they are meant to be no more than a secondary means of offensive attack. While the melee versions take up next to no mana, the higher-level ones rise drastically in terms of mana usage. You will be able to manage three, maybe four of those, before you run out."

I sipped my tea in thought. This was what I wanted, was it not? Some more skills to expand my range of options mid-battle. There was no reason to say no.

"Ok then. How much are you charging to teach me this?"

"For you, I will do it for free."

We stood up, and Nobuyuki led me into another room, which was empty.

"Observe." He said, and held out his hand.

A small ball of flame appeared in his hand. A quiet hissing could be heard coming from it.

"This is Flaring palm. It is a little different from tinder, by the form it takes, and the fact that it can be upgraded so that you can throw it."

It died down, and a blue spark appeared, darting out from his hand, where the fire had been. It happened again, and sped up. Not long later, he had thousands of needle-thin bolts coming out of his palm, and dispersing in the air.

"Sparking palm. This one is quite unique, and exactly what it looks like."

The electricity disappeared.

"The next one is a little different. Touch my palm." Nobuyuki said.

I pressed my finger to the middle of his hand, and it came back shivering and pale, but dry.

"Now that I have shown you, they should appear on your adventurer's card?"

They had. I highlighted them with the finger that had not gone numb, and tapped the sketch of my face that took up the top right-hand corner of the card.

A breeze ripped my clothes for a few seconds, and a green glow enveloped me.

Afterwards, I could feel no difference, but I knew that the deed had been done.

I walked up to the wall, placed my hand against it, and concentrated.

A cold tingling sensation originated from under my collarbone, travelled down my arm, and into my palm. I held it there, and it intensified, until I felt my hand go numb. I then let the power go, and with a cracking sound, it left.

Upon opening my eyes, I saw that a thick layer of ice now covered the wall.

I grinned in satisfaction, but then found that I was dizzy, and I almost fell.

"Next time you try that," Nobuyuki said from behind me, "One, don't pour all of your mana into it, and two, don't use my wall."

* * *

Authors note: Arrgh. Once again, a short chapter. I'm really sorry, there is no excuse for this. I'm trying my best to get six thousand words done, but these past few weeks, it's just not happening! Oh well, I hope you enjoyed anyway, please review.


	10. Chapter 9

Authors note: I changed the writing style a bit during the start of this chapter. In what way? Well, wait and see. Anyway, If you don't like it don't worry, because it is a one-time thing. So, anyway, into the story!

* * *

 **Part 1: (Progress Logs)**

Satou Kazuma

Entry #1

Well, hello… Darkness told me to write this…. She bought me a nice looking notebook, and told me that I should write down everything that happens to me. In my opinion, this sounds too much like a diary, which I once swore was something I would never do… but here I am. Darkness told me that all good Knights have one, she says logging thoughts that you have down is a great way to increase capacity for battle strategy, something to do with remembering things you write better than things you live. Actually, that sounds kind of deep, even though it came from _Darkness_ of all people.

Megumin seems to be thinking along the same lines as me, teasing me for keeping a Diary like a little girl.

The Irony.

Well, when I made the pledge never to write a diary, I must say I didn't anticipate a situation such as the one that I am in.

When Darkness was explaining what I should do about this whole logbook business, she told me to write as if I was writing to a friend who knew nothing about my life. Here goes, I guess.

So much has happened, so I'll give you the short version.

After signing up to be an adventurer, I encountered a Boy and a Girl, who had just made a party. The Boy, who was also a newbie, seemed to know little about the world, so though our personalities were polar opposites, we made good friends quite quickly, and Aqua (my companion) and I joined up with them, bringing our headcount up to four.

Things happen, we gain another member. and Link speeds ahead of the rest of us in terms of power and level, to the point where he is well known across the Kingdom for his Defeat of a General of the Devil-King's army, and subjugation of another. He is invited to a tournament, where the winner will be given the right to work as the princess's appointed protector.

More things happen, and Link nominates me to compete as well. Luckily, I have amassed a great wealth of skill points, which I will use to learn skills to open up possible pathways during battle.

And we catch up to the present.

I am writing this log to record battles, and major progress in my skill set, mindset or other. There wasn't time to think about much today, so I will be ending this entry. I will begin training tomorrow.

Six sleeps left until the tournament.

Link

Entry #2316

For the twelfth time since I began this log six years ago, I missed an entry. This was because while I was travelling to the capital last night, to compete in the tournament that I have detail in previous sections. I have little time to write tonight either, so I can not very well make up for the information that I have missed. I embarked on a mission with Megumin, and we failed to complete it. Several of the nobles we were attempting to rescue were murdered. On top of that, Megumin almost died of fatigue because I pushed her too far.

I can only hope to atone for my failures in my future endeavours.

Today, I unlocked three new skill trees, featuring Electricity, Fire, and Ice attacks, though I was unable to get much else done. To prepare for the inevitable competition looming on the horizon, I have much to do in the coming days.

Six sleeps left until the tournament.

Satou Kazuma

Entry #2

Today, Megumin lectured me on Link's strengths and weaknesses, so that I could prepare for them. She was doing it unwillingly, and only because it was at Links request that she do so.

It was meant to be an important meeting, in order to help me stand a chance during the arduous trials to come, but it ended up being on me finding out just how strong Link is.

Megumin told me that his speed and agility are almost unrivalled in the Kingdom, and that he would most likely be the speediest in the competition. She also told me that his shield is completely unbreakable, so combine that with his agility, and he is almost invulnerable. He doesn't slack off in his offensive power either. His master sword, she told me, can slice right through all but the strongest of metals as if they were butter… or just inferior craftsmanship.

His many attributes couple together to make a fighter that is almost invulnerable.

From all of this information, I can see only one clear path: his perception. He has a relatively low Hp and Defense stat for his level, so if I can get a couple of good hits onto him, the match goes to me. If I can manage to impair his sight, or audio in any way, that would give me a huge advantage.

Now I need to choose whether I should think of a different strategy, or follow the lead that I already have.

I'll leave tomorrow to tomorrow's me.

Five sleeps left until the tournament.

Satou Kazuma

Entry #3

I learned a little about the people that I will be fighting. They all seem extremely strong. I can only hope to stand a chance after learning some new skills.

Four sleeps left until the tournament.

Link

Entry #2318

I spent the day reading up about some of the other contestants. I bought a few books detailing their past deeds, and their abilities. While the Heroes in books are only as strong as their authors make them out to be, meaning that they could be exaggerated, or depreciated, the may still afford a clue to their fighting style.

There are three other fast knights competing. One fights like me, with a broadsword and shield. One fights with a broadsword and magic, and the other with a dual-handed greatsword. The broadsword users will be easy enough to beat, but the knight that wields a greatsword might be tricky.

Why? It's because I could find little to no information on him. All I know is that he is formidable with his hooks and throws. I have no doubt that a single direct hit from him would incapacitate me.

Four sleeps left.

Satou Kazuma

Entry #5

When I began this log, I was only doing it to please Darkness, but after using it for a few days, I can already see a difference. Megumin is telling me that I appear more calm and collected while training, and I can find thoughts easier, and my memory is improving. Today, I did a reaction test, and found that it was above average. Megumin went with me, and told me that it was far below Link's score, but not too terribly far.

In fact, Megumin stayed with me most of the day, and 'reviewed' my progress. I was now (finally) physically stronger than her, and she even told me that I might stand a chance.

Coming from our favourite Tsundere arch-wizard, that's saying a lot.

Later, I participated in a friendly spar against a team of capital guards, and won. As Megumin said, I might actually stand a chance.

Two sleeps left.

Link

Entry #2321

With the amount of training I out in the past week, I feel as if I have progressed further than I could have imagined. I have not done much training with my sword skills, however, so I can only hope that they have not regressed too majorly.

Aside from that, I now have the ability to use the Close, Medium, and Long-range versions of Freezing Palm, which I found was my favourite. It has does far less damage than my bow, but it's armour-piercing capability far surpasses it, in addition, it slows down my opponent for five seconds.

Speaking about the palms, I know the medium and close-range flame attack, and the melee Sparkling attack.

Knowing all of this, today, I felt as if I was physically ready, so I took the time to mentally prepare instead.

I carried on thinking up various battle scenarios in my head, gradually getting more difficult, and then finding my way out of them.

I then spent the afternoon meditating, to clear my short-term memory, which would need to be utterly dedicated to thinking of strategies during combat.

I will go to sleep now, though it is only seven pm, and Megumin is not back yet.

I will have to be well rested for the tournament tomorrow.

Satou Kazuma

Entry #7

The tournament is tomorrow. I hope I am ready. Link and I happened to pass on the street yesterday, even though we had agreed to stay out of contact until after the tournament. In the few seconds we spent in each other's presence, he advised me to get an early night.

So I will.

Wish me luck.

* * *

 **Part 2: (Link)**

I woke up feeling, for once, well-rested. After my early night, which I now found was a good Idea after all, I woke up feeling ready for what was to come.

I sat up slowly, then slid around, and got off my bed feet first.

Standing up slowly so I got no headache, I checked the time, and headed to Megumin's room.

"Why are you here so early?" She asked.

Here words betrayed her appearance and tone however: She was fully dressed, wearing a light blue t-shirt that differed from her usual red and yellow colour scheme. She didn't appear fatigued in any way.

Maybe she had woken up in a similar natural fashion to me, and waited for me to come, as she knew I would.

"To come to get you," I said, to which she smiled.

Each contestant had to have an attendant in the sidelines, for whatever reason. The logical choice would have been Aqua, of course, because of her healing powers, but I chose Megumin. I think it was because I thought that Kazuma needed Aqua more.

We still had a couple of hours before the competition began, so we headed to a nearby Cafe to have breakfast. We had barely sat down, however, before an overdue arrival came.

"Link-san. I apologise for interrupting your meal, but I need you to come with me."

It was the King.

"Of course. It's about time." I replied.

"Apologies again, but it is not easy to gain support, and agree with all of the nobles on-"

"I'm going to have to stop you there, as I assume what you were about to say was not a matter for public ears?"

The King looked horrified.

"This stress is getting to me.." He muttered.

I got up. "Lead the way," I said.

We began walking, but we had not gone far before the King stopped. He gestured to Megumin, who was walking by my side.

"The information that I am about to relay to you is strictly confidential, and only meant to be heard by certain people." He said.

I looked at Megumin. Obviously, she wanted to come. I turned back to the King.

"If I am correct, you are going to reveal a certain plan to all of the contestants that are going to appear in the tournament today, and all of the leaders of your army," I told the King. "In which case, I feel that Megumin would be an enormous asset to let participate, as she is undoubtedly the most powerful Mage in Axel. If it is a question of trust, I would happily put my life in her hands, with no worry. Trusting me is the same as trusting her. She will not tell anybody."

"But… Actually, what am I saying? Of course she can come. The rest of your party is coming as well. It would be wrong to leave her out."

* * *

 **Part 3: (Kazuma)**

"The objective of the invasion will be to kill me."

A collective gasp failed to resonate through the room. There were around twenty-five people all seated around a war-table, with a map of the capital under a sheet of glass on top.

I _was_ listening, but it was not any information I didn't know already, so I amused myself during the King's explanation by studying the models poised around the map.

Just off-centre on the map, where the Colosseum was, there were thirteen high-detail metal models. They were just about two inches tall. There was a miniature Link, with his Sword and Shield out, and next to it, a miniature Megumin holding out her staff in an explosion chant. Aqua and Darkness's models formed another duo, posing heroically. Unifying this heart-lifting action-figure squad was a dark green blob of what appeared to be play-doh, with a smiley face drawn on it in marker pen.

Apparently, it was all the sculptors could remember about me.

Fanning out from there were thousands of green counters, symbolising friendly forces, and large blue ones, symbolising the captains.

"Um... Kazuma-san?"

"Sorry, yes?" I broke out of my trance.

"As the strategist of one of the strongest knights in the kingdom, where do you think that the majority of our forces should be concentrated, given the fact that we are outnumbered about three to one?" The king asked.

"Um, will you accept any idea?" I asked.

"Of course, if by that you mean, we will not punish you for any idea."

Wow. They were going to hate me for this.

"We should have no guards stationed at the Coliseum."

The room broke into shouts.

The King silenced them.

"That indeed seems like a foolish decision. May I ask you why you think that?"

"Well, look here. The Colosseum is only directly accessible through the castle courtyard. We should position most of our forces there, and have a full-out battle there. If we concentrate all of our enemies in one place, we will minimise civilian death, because there will be no fighting close to suburbs, where any innocents not attending the tournament will be. " I said.

Everyone went silent, thinking about it. It was Link who challenged my argument.

"But why must all of our forces be there? Surely, just knowing their plans gives us an advantage. Also, if we fail there, the civilians gathered in the Coliseum will be in danger, and they will probably riot out of fear." He said.

"Both are good points Link-san, but if we fail, their numbers will have been greatly reduced, and our reinforcements from the crimson demon village will be able to take care of the rest of them. During the battle, you, I, and the other knights who will be in the Colosseum anyway for the tournament should be more than strong enough to evacuate the King while the main battle begins a good distance away from us."

Our party was really dominating this war council, because it was Megumin who spoke up next.

"What if your prediction is wrong, and they attack by climbing the walls?"

I looked at the map. In words, it is hard to explain. Imagine a big circle as the capital. Then draw a line through it. In in the middle of this line, Imagine three smaller circles right next to each other, along the line, toward the centre. The line is the high street, and the middle circle is the castle. The other two are the courtyard, and the Coliseum.

"With the Coliseum only being directly accessible by going through the courtyard, then around the castle, it is most likely our enemy will come from there. However, if they _do_ decide to climb the Colosseum walls, it shouldn't be a big problem. Link, for one I know, can hit a moving target from a speeding horse at one-hundred metres. Hitting people off of a wall should be easy. Then we have the firing squad trained here, at the capital. Once again, his, along with the other featured knights, their primary jobs are to escort the king to safety, though the Coliseums back entrance. We don't need to worry about that entrance either; it is too small to be of any major threat. Feel free to challenge my strategy in any way you can. I will answer the questions."

Where this new-found authority came from, I do not know. Ideas are something rare to me most of the time. Why is it now, an hour before the beginning of a competitive brawl, do I get an idea, capable of challenging the strategists of the capital itself?!

"What do we do if they attack from both sides? Our main forces will be sandwiched." One of the other contenders in the tournament asked. Another fast knight, by the look of him.

I responded. "Any stragglers who manage to make it through the firing squad, and all eight of the strongest knights, as they journey to the back entrance, shouldn't be of any significant threat to the capital's entire battle force, which Mitsurugi Kyouya will be leading."

It was Mitsurugi himself who spoke next.

"Though the capital's forces are strong, there are not many active guards. We will be far outnumbered. How can you guarantee that our forces will win? We do not know much about the enemy except their time of arrival."

"We already have confirmed reinforcements coming from the village of Crimson Demons, so the enemy will be the ones who are sandwiched, as they advance behind them. A preliminary magic bombardment from them, against the diminished forces of the enemy, should be enough to decimate the remaining forces. If the unlikely _does_ happen, and our forces _do_ suffer defeat, the King will have had plenty of time to evacuate. The civilians will not be in any immediate danger, as long as they stay out of the way, because our enemy wants to rule, not to utterly destroy the kingdom."

Everyone around the room seemed to be thinking.

The King stood up.

"So, the plan that you are suggesting, with a few minor alterations, is this."

He used a stick to move his own model to one side of the Coliseum, and left the contestants' models in the centre. He then moved all of the soldier counters inside of the castle.

"The tournament continues as normal." He said. "When our opposition attacks, most of them will be funnelled into the castle courtyard, as it is the only way to get a large force into the Coliseum." He poured thousands of purple counters into the courtyard. "At which point we will close the gates to the Coliseum, buying us more time. Our forces," He said, moving them out of the castle. "Will leave the castle, and engage them in a full-out battle against the enemy. Anybody who attacks from the other side will ether die to the competing knights, or be blocked off by the closed gates. Anybody who attempts to follow Me and my bodyguards will find the entrance we left through blown up." He said. He then removed all of the competing knights from the map, as well as his own. "By now, we can safely assume that I have gotten away safely." He then removed half of the capital forces. "Even if we suffer casualties," He then dumped about one-hundred red counters on the board. "The remaining enemies will be obliterated by the crimson demon village sandwiching them against our forces." The King looked up at me.

"Is that right?" He asked.

I nodded.

"All in favour, raise your hands."

All hands rose.

* * *

 **Part 4: (Link)**

Looking around the castle courtyard, I found it hard to imagine the bloodbath that was about to take place there in a matter of hours. Looking to my side, I saw Megumin with a glazed expression on her face, signifying that she was experiencing similar thoughts.

"I am not so stupid so as to raise any flags, but I can say that Kazuma's plan is a good one." I distracted her.

"I agree." She said. "But, it never specified where _I_ would be during this whole thing."

It was true. In a battle such as this, her powers would be next to useless, for risk of damaging the city, or harming civilians. The clear conclusion, seeing as she would be powerless during this battle, was for her to blend in with the civilians, and stay out of danger once the invasion started. However, knowing Megumin as well as I did, I knew that she would never accept that, so I didn't even bother to suggest it. Instead, I voiced the second best option:

"Why don't you come with the king and the rest of us, until we leave the Coliseum, then flank around the whole establishment and meet the Crimson Demon reinforcements as they come in?"

Megumin seemed to think for a second.

"That would be the most logical option, as you are taking my inevitable selfishness into account."

Ha. Had we just met, I would have gone with my former suggestion, but though we had only known each other for about nine weeks, we had spent so much time together in that short time that we could essentially read each other's' minds.

Megumin continued. "Plus, it has been a while since I have seen my old classmates, excluding Yun-Yun of course."

We continued walking in silence. We reached one of the corridors that led on either side of the castle to the Coliseum. On the battle map, they appeared but half a centimetre wide, but the real thing was at least twenty metres in diameter. Assuming the map in the planning room was perfectly to scale, the Coliseum itself would be a circle at least two-hundred metres wide. I involuntarily shivered.

We eventually made it to a special waiting room under the seating area of the arena; each of the contestants had one. We sat down on a comfy-looking sofa. It had a relaxing environment in there, despite the exact opposite intentions of the Gladiatorial arena down a short corridor five metres to my right.

How had we become so respected? I was the same Link that I had been when I had almost lost in sword combat with a common bandit? Was it not the same Scum-Zuma who had stolen Megumin's underwear in front of the entire guild, who had formulated the battle plan to defend the capital from an army thousands strong? Just how much _had_ happened in the past two months.

"It's because of you," Megumin said quietly.

"Hm?" I asked, in question.

"It's because of you. It's not every day where a novice adventurer appears, and make as big an impact as you did, is it?" She said.

"I guess not…."

She giggled, which was most unlike Megumin. "We are both aware of the change that you have the power to bring. Most of the time, the King would be scared of such a power appearing so suddenly, but you have earned his trust, and he respects you."

I stayed silent. While Megumin was normally blunt and to-the-point, she was actually praising me at the moment. For some reason, my inexplicable feeling of depression was lifting.

"I know that you are not worried about a stupid tournament, or even the battle that is to follow. You are always worrying about others. Please, worry about yourself in what is to come, and trust me and the others."

What was I doing?

I nodded.

"Of course. From now on, my top priority is to ensure that the King gets away safely. I will leave the defeat of the enemy to you and Kyouya."

She smiled. "Thanks. However, now it is time to begin! Though I am sure that you will win, you most definitely won't if you are late!"

She stood up, which was when I noticed.

Somehow, it was only then that I noticed what Megumin was wearing. Her Light Blue Shirt, though it was not a combat tunic like mine, had the same simplistic white sword symbol on the front. In fact, it was an exact replica of mine, save for the fact it was shorter, and didn't have the modifications to aid in combat. She was even wearing beige trousers. I was about to ask about it, but stopped myself.

"Because I wanted to represent you during the tournament, though how you only noticed now, I don't know."

I laughed. She really did always know what I was thinking. "I am not quite sure either. It suits you... of course, I like your usual colours as well, but I find blue a soothing. It looks good on you."

She smiled as I stood up, and walked with her up until the end of the corridor leading to the arena.

Cheers arose from the crowd as I walked into the light.

* * *

 **Part 5: (Link)**

Walking out of an entrance way that led directly into the arena, I had to shield my eyes from the sudden Light. After a couple of seconds, my vision adjusted. I found that, though it was morning, there was a canvas contraption adding height to the walls, and it extended toward the centre in a dome fashion, so as to block out most of the sunlight.

The source of the brightness that I mentioned was a series of bright manatite-powered lamps, which were shining from all directions.

This way, there would be no sun-based advantages, and the audience would be able to see everything better, as there were hardly any shadows.

Looking all the way across the circular stadium, I could see the person that I was to fight. It was one of the other fast knights. His only visible gear was a sword and shield.

I could suddenly hear a Magically amplified voice, presumably, a commentator speak.

"Hello everybody, and welcome to this tournament today! The King is holding this spectacle in order to find the strongest knight, other than, of course, Mitsurugi Kyouya, who is here with me now!"

"Hello everybody. I believe that this is going to be quite an event! It saddens me that I cannot be down there competing with these noble people, but it seems that I have managed to secure the second-best position! I will be here for the duration of this historic phenomenon, which will last from now until midday, in which time everybody will have a short break!"

I smirked. He didn't tell me that he was going to commentate. For some reason, maybe he had thought it was of lesser importance, when we were meeting to discuss the battle plan that was going to decide the fate of the kingdom earlier.

"But fret not! It will continue afterwards! Up until fights are over!" The first commentator said excitedly.

"Just how many rounds are there then _amigo?_ " Mitsurugi asked.

"Well, I am glad you presented me with that glorious question, as I am sure everybody else is keen to know as well!"

By now, all of my competitors had gathered in the centre of the arena in a line, along with their attendants. I looked over my shoulder to find Megumin.

"You are getting better at that stealth thing," I told her.

She ignored me, but instead asked. "Why do you think Kyouya agreed to be the commentator?"

I shrugged my response as the sportscaster began speaking again.

"Every contender will fight everyone else, which means a total of seven matches each! A win is worth three points, a loss is two, and if they reach the time limit, which is ten minutes, before our referee declares a victor, they each get two points! If a contestant is unable to begin a battle because of injuries from a previous one, they will be disqualified, and any earned points will be nullified. Also, the person who dealt with those injuries will lose two points in this case."

Kyouya spoke next. "It seems that the rules crack down hard on people who deal major injuries."

"They do. In addition, there will be a knockout tournament afterwards to decide between any possible draws. And now, it is time for the first battle to begin! And, boy, is it an interesting one! It is between two fast knights, who, coincidentally, both fight with the same Shield-complementing-sword style!"

From my research, I already knew who it was.

"The well-established Knight Tenhi Mo! He has been helping as an elite in the Capital's Adventurers Guild, and is widely considered to be the Guilds fastest Knight! It would not be looking to great for his opponent if it wasn't Link! Link is quite the mysterious figure, and is also a contender for the same title of fastest Knight! As well as this, he single-handedly defeated Verdia, a leader in the devil-king's army. However, apart from this, we do not know much about him, but my friend Kyouya once sparred against him!"

"That is true _amigo,_ though that was before his heroic defeat of Verdia, he was already one of the stronger people that I have ever thought, and I am sure he has gotten even more powerful since then," Kouya said

"Could you tell us a bit more about that?" He asked.

"I can't. That would put Link at a disadvantage, would it not?"

"Haha. Always the honourable knight Mitsurugi! Anyway, now that everyone but the fighters have vacated to the ground-level viewing boxes, is time for the first match of the day to begin!"

Everyone was gone, except the referee, and Mo, who was standing across from me.

"I want you both to turn around, and take a one metre step every second for twenty seconds. Then you may begin." The referee said.

I looked at him guiltily. He didn't know about the bloodbath that was going to take place toward the end of the tournament. I shook my head, banishing those thoughts from my mind. _Megumin told me not to think about that._

"Begin!"

I turned around.

 _One_

 _Two_

 _Three_

I slowly counted to twenty, taking one pace each second.

 _Nineteen_

As a friend once told me. _Ere' we go!_

 _Twenty_

I dove to my right, rolled, and whipped around when I was finished. I was right to do that, because an arrow whizzed by where I had been a millisecond before.

"And the match begins with Mo firing an arrow straight at Link! Whether it was reaction or instinct, I have no idea, but Link dodged beautifully!" The commentator shouted.

I tuned him out. I had to make a plan.

I would not be given time however, as I was forced to whip my shield out, to parry an attack that Mo threw at me. He was right up close, and I was forced to acknowledge just _how_ similar our fighting styles were. He was keeping the pressure on to ensure that I didn't get an attack off. The victor would be whoever had quicker reaction times if I didn't use any magic. As Mo was preventing me from using such attacks, I could assume that he was confident in being faster.

I smirked.

I could play his game.

I jumped backwards. Mo followed me, but I succeeded in buying the millisecond I needed to retrieve my sword. My enemy had jumped after me in an attempt to stop me from gaining the time I needed, and he slashed his straight down with both hands. As the blade glanced off of my shield, I sliced at his legs underneath it. I was not expecting it to hit, and it didn't, but from the forward momentum of the previous attack he had launched, he was unable to dodge it by moving backwards. He was forced to jump. Even a speed freak such as him had limited movement in the air.

I straightened up, and kicked him hard in the chest. He went sprawling across the ground, not being able to block, because he had not yet retrieved his shield.

He began to stumble to his feet, and I sheath my weapons.

Being severely winded, Mo didn't manage to get up before I rushed to his position, with my hand drawn backwards. As he straightened up, I slammed my palm, which was now crackling blue with electricity, into his stomach, and he crumpled once again.

This time, he didn't get up.

The referee rushed over to him as I arose. He checked for a pulse and a breath, then stood up and declared:

"The winner is Link!"

The crowd was quiet for a few seconds, before

"And the First match is over in seconds! Just what you would expect from Fast Knights!" The civilian commentator shouted.

Mitsurugi was quick to follow. "Don't be fooled though! The reason for the quick match was exactly that! Fast knights never stay in defence long; they will exploit the first mistake an enemy makes to get back on the attack! Once Link had gotten Mo in the air, was when the match was over. Mo's mistake was back when he followed Link's retreat, even though he had the means to defend the minor attack that he was launching."

"And from that useful insight into the strategy that actually goes into victory, we will have a short break before the next match!"

* * *

Authors Note: Finally! I have found the time to do a chapter of decent length! I hope you enjoyed it! Also, I don't write fight scenes often, so tell me what you think in the reviews section, though it was a short one. I plan for there to be a lot of action in the next few chapters, so tell me what you think I should change now! So, as always, see you in the next chapter!


	11. Chapter 10

Authors Note: Well, tenth chapter. Cool, I guess. I hope that you have enjoyed the fanfiction up until now because I have no intention of stopping soon. Um. Also… Not only that, but I also have a sequel idea for when this story ends. So really, I won't be stopping soon, even if you want me to. I'm too stubborn. I also have an Idea for another crossover. That won't happen for a while, because I'm struggling to get just one done weekly, I was thinking about a mass crossover, including Konosuba, Aoki Hagane No Arpeggio, Naruto, Warhammer 40k, and many other fandoms. What do you think about that?

Another thing, for the purpose of this chapter, I am going to say that your HP reaching zero just means a loss of consciousness during an organised battle.

* * *

 **Part 1: (Kazuma)**

"Kazuma, if only you had devoted yourself earlier to the divine _me_ , maybe you would be in a better predicament," Aqua told me.

It was more or less the fifth different way that she had tried to get me to praise her in some way, since the war council.

"No."

This was about the fifth time that I had used this same word to reject the notion.

"Why not?"

"I have no intention to dedicate myself to the goddess of haplessness," I told her.

My voice was flat, very different than its normal state whenever I was insulting her. The reason for this was a worry that had arisen in my mind recently.

"Hey Aqua. You know how I created this war-plan and everything?" I asked her.

"Mm-hm."

"If it fails in some way, will I have any politicians on my butt when it leaks that I _was_ the one who made it?"

She looked at me, surprised for some reason.

"Yes, probably."

"Great. Good to know."

Awesome. Now I could go into this fight to the death with no worries.

"Ah, Aqua. Sarcasm can be a great and terrible thing." I said.

If she was thrown off by my sudden change in demeanour, she didn't show it.

"I agree Kazuma. Just like other similar literary tools, such as exaggeration, and, controversially, onomatopoeia."

I frowned politely. "Ah, I don't agree with that last one, but, as you mentioned, it _is_ considerably contentious. I am sure many people agree with me, and many doujin writers don't."

"You are quite right Kazuma-san."

Even in retrospect, I can't quite see how this conversation even came into existence.

I'm not sure I _want_ to know exactly what was going through my mind to think it was normal.

"Ehem." A cough sounded from the passageway,

Damn onomatopoeia.

"Ehem." It sounded again.

I turned, saw the uniform of the referee, of the tournament, and for a split second was very confused.

In our serene silence following our, erm, _interesting_ conversation, as we were thinking about angry politicians, literary tools, and doujinshi, both Aqua and I had forgotten on some level, that we were in a waiting room for a tournament in which I was to fight against the best warriors in the land, not die, and still conserve energy in some way to fight a battle against an army of angry idiots.

As they say, Love life, and it will love you back, Love Live, and your stupid otaku obsessions will come back and swallow you whole in the name of karma.

After being dragged out into the arena to listen to the rules, bood at, dragged back in to wait for my predecessor to annihilate his opponent and dragged back out again to get annihilated.

"Prepare to get annihilated!" My opponent shouted.

This didn't do too much to improve my mood.

The twenty-second countdown to the start of the match came and went too fast, unlike the hyper-climactic setting that inevitably went through Link's mind during his first match.

The second that it was over, my opponent charged at me.

Well, joke was on him.

"Retreat!" I yelled.

I found myself running backwards at superhuman speed.

My opponent seemed quite confused as to what had happened. The poor guy found himself fiercely slicing air.

"Come here and face me you coward!"

He began running toward me again.

"Retreat!"

I, once again, found myself about fifty metres out of my enemies' reach. Well, he really loved charging, and attempting to land on-hit ko's on me. Hm. He was quite fast, and that greatsword _did_ look quite powerful. He was confident in his ability to get in close, and destroy his opponent in a single swing.

"Stop running, and act like a man!" He yelled.

"Ya know, I don't really feel like it."

My opponent growled, and ran toward me again.

"Retreat!"

He looked at me flatly.

"Really?" He asked.

I nodded apologetically.

Yup. I was right. He seemed the cocky type. Pisses me off.

Anyway, I now had a plan that would minimise my reputation as a human being, but at the same time, humiliate my Big-headed enemy. I would defeat him with only those 'useless' skills. Time to lay the groundwork!

"Multispell!" It allowed me to use the same buff or debuff spell twice as many times before the effects stopped stacking. A cheap skill from the 'mage' class.

"Upgrade!" It was a warrior skill, a twenty percent upgrade to all of my current stats. So twenty percent so far, for the cost of twenty percent of my maximum mana. Stackable up to two.

"Upgrade!" Now that was twenty percent extra! That was not forty percent though. It was twenty percent extra, after the first upgrade had been resolved!

"Upgrade." I could use it four times, not just two, thanks to the effects of multiple!

"Upgrade!" For a total of a 250% upgrade to all of my stats!

Would I stop there!?

No!

"Brace!" This was one that was considered useless only because of its insane mana cost. It would take away half of my remaining mana. But seeing as I used upgrade so many times, it had next to no effect.

With 'brace,' any attack that would otherwise kill me would be nullified, but only once, and for a massive mana cost.

"Brace!" And, of course, I could use it twice because of 'Multispell.'

I looked to my opponent who snapped out of his confusion, of me repeatedly using the same skill, and charged once again.

This time, I didn't run, but stayed put. As he reached me, I held out my hand and applied 'Drain touch.' My other hand was out to the side pumping out a stream of water.

I was effectively taking my opponent's mana and turning it into a puddle with my 'useless' skills.

As he slammed the flat of his sword into my chest in a painful uppercut, I could feel my hp reach a single point, despite my defence upgrades, as I had expected. One Brace down.

I used another skill as I was in the air.

"Icy Wind!" A litch skill that took fifty percent of my remaining mana, to freeze all water in the surrounding area, and it did.

The water that I had just released, as expected, froze over in a thick sheet, and I began falling back toward my enemy.

He looked up at me as I shouted: "SELF DESTRUCT!" My body began glowing as I fell toward him.

He tried to get away, but failed miserably, slipping on the ice and falling.

I fell on top of my enemy as a large explosion flowered around me.

Self destruct was a skill that nobody dared to learn - Suicide would be too easy. It was a warrior skill that would kill the user but result in a massive explosion almost as big as something that Megumin would produce.

Because of the brace skill that I had activated earlier, however, I didn't die, and its power was limited.

However, it _was_ more than enough to burn the clothes off my opposition, and knock him unconscious. I was left standing because of 'brace.'

He was quickly carried out of sight.

"Well. I am unsure as to what happened there Kyouya…" The commentator said.

"It seems to me as though Satou Kazuma has won, because of a deadly combination of skills that only a high-level adventurer could pull off. But exactly which skills they were, I too am unsure…"

Good thing too. I couldn't just have anybody using my cheese strats.

"I guess only Kazuma could come up with such a strategy," Aqua said from behind me.

"It worked didn't it?"

* * *

 **Part 2: (Darkness)**

After spending so much time around my party members, I had forgotten how boring things were without them. During the war council, I did not offer any contribution, and I did not talk to any of my friends.

Kazuma and Aqua had left as soon as the King confirmed the plan, and Link and Megumin soon later, after the former had a quick word with Mitsurugi Kyouya, who he seemed to be friends with.

In short, no crossing of words between any interesting person ever took place.

Normally, I would never have used the word 'interesting' because anything out of the normal used to be such for me. After joining Kazuma's party, however, my definition of the 'Interesting' seemed to have dulled, as nothing wasn't in his or his parties' presence.

When I had been summoned to discuss something confidential, I had been worried that it was completely political. Though I had accepted, ready to take a stance in the name of my father, as I had been taught to do, I had gotten there, seen the map table and the expertly crafted counters and markers that showed where the capital's forces were stationed, I was brutally reminded of the upcoming invasion.

While I panicked, never having wondered what I would do in a situation such as that one, Kazuma laid out a plan that sounded as if it had taken several days to formulate.

And I _knew_ it hadn't, because I had been reading his diary.

He argued with the capital's top strategists and knights over why his plan was better, won, and promptly left.

I was brought out of my spell of boredom and loneliness when both Link and Kazuma completed within the first three matches of the day.

Link's match was difficult to follow, but was over in about thirty seconds. I had been convincing him and myself that this tournament would be full of people who could match up to him, but he had as good as proven me wrong in his first match. On the other hand, while these were eight of the most skilled knights in the land, there had to be some sort of skill gap.

Kazuma's first match came a little after, and though he took longer, his enemy suffered a bad defeat as well, proving that he could be consistently good at coming up with a plan.

In his next match, Link actually failed to win one. He ran out of time fighting a crusader, making the mistake of not going all out from the beginning.

As the tournament went on, I took a walk around the stands, and found that the favourites to win were actually our own Link and Kazuma. I had expected the former, but the latter was surprising indeed. Though, I did see why, as he had managed to consistently win the next three matches, making him the person with the most amount of points in the competition. Link was close behind, with one point between them. There _was_ some more competition, but by the lunch break, the bets were all on either Link or Kazuma. Kazuma was on fifteen points, and Link was on fourteen.

Needless to say, they were both quite quiet at lunch. It was now a question of one of the two winning. No matter what, it _would_ be one of them.

Link won his next match and Kazuma lost his.

Kazuma: 16

Link: 17

And the final match of the day, as climatic as it was, was shouted out next:

"And now! For the final match! I have a feeling that we are about to witness something great people. It's LINK vs SATOU KAZUMA!"

Oh, of course it was.

* * *

 **Part 3: (Kazuma)**

If I said that I was not expecting it, I would be lying. Whether I liked it or not, I knew that I would be fighting him that day. The fact that it was the final match of the day, and that the outcome would determine the overall winner, whether it was me or Link, somehow made it feel worse.

I had begun working on a plan the moment I found out that I had no choice in facing him, and was quite confident in its success, but I still had no idea whether or not he had shown all of his skills. Most likely, he hadn't, because I knew that he had amassed a great wealth of skill points before the tournament, and he had only shown one so far. There was that variable to deal with.

The other was the way that Link himself operated. Mitsurugi had earlier hit the nail on the head when he said that Link would exploit my first mistake to win. Another problem lay in the pace at which Link's fights occur; he would try his best to stay a few steps ahead of me, but his speed would make it very difficult for me to find the time to think.

Aqua broke the silence that we elapsed into while sitting on those sofas in our waiting room.

"You know, it doesn't really matter if you lose. We will win the money anyway, and if you _do_ win, you would be appointed the princess's protector."

"Exactly. I need to win."

She looked at me.

"Why?"

"I need to beat that guy!" I shouted. "Yeah, he is badass, and popular, and has a cheat weapon, but I need to beat him at something!"

"And you think that the best thing to beat him at is open combat…."

She makes a good point.

"Link would do better in an official position like that anyway..."

Wow. Never before have I been so offended by something I 100% agree with.

Aqua patted my head sympathetically.

"Kazuma… as a woman, I find you much more attractive than Link…"

"Really?" I asked, as if that meant anything.

"...Not really, no. You are both weird and annoying, in your own ways."

I couldn't expect much better from Aqua, not that it was a problem, as her abuse spurred me on. I jumped up vigorously.

"I am going to win this and add a cute imouto princess to my collection!" I yelled, without thinking.

Aqua looked worried.

"Erm, Kazuma? What do you mean 'collection'?"

"Well you see," I said, still drunk on my brainwave. "Megumin is a tsundere lolita, Wiz is a kind onee-chan, and you…. Well… Actually, I have no idea what the crap you are, but I want a little sister!"

Aqua seemed shocked, and had frozen in place. I probably didn't have long before she hit me, started crying, or turn me into the police.

I decided that it was time to leave.

I regretted leaving when I walked into the centre of the Coliseum again.

Seeing Link walking out across from me terrified me.

But wait a second.

Why was I scared?

Link was the type to hesitate before dealing the final blow.

That was something I could use to my advantage.

I tuned out the commentators as we walked toward each other.

Link was smiling. It was a smile that said 'Good luck, I'm not holding back.'

I returned the look.

"Begin!" The referee yelled, for the population of the capital to hear.

We were walking away from each other.

 _Nineteen_

 _Twenty_

Before I even turned around, I yelled "Brace!"

It seemed that It was for nought, because Link had decided to play the defence. He was crouched with his sword and shield out, ready to defend. I understood, because he knew that I had taken preparations specifically to counter him, more than anybody else in the tournament. Not knowing many of my abilities, he had two options: to defeat me before I could get an attack off, or to stay put, as he was doing. He had chosen the former, believing that I would be expecting him to attack. He was right too, it was why I had activated brace right off. I now had the advantage of the extra life, but it would be useless if I ran out of mana, because there was no way that I could beat him in swordplay.

I cursed. I gave him the advantage right off the bat. I reminded myself that I had to think ahead of him, because he was not a blundering idiot with a powerful item or skill, like most of the other competitors. He was a genius with _two_ powerful items.

He had no reason to change his plan now, because he still knew none of my skills. The differing factor now would be that he knew that I needed to change _my_ plans, so.

"Retreat!" I yelled.

I was right to do so. Even with my skill, I was only able to retreat the speed at which he advanced. We ended up in the same position, off to the side fifty metres.

Link would now be in a moment of indecision, after I had predicted his previous move. For a few seconds, I had the upper hand.

"Sacred Create Water!" I used the rest of my mana to coat the majority of the Coliseum floor in water. It was but a millimetre, hardly worth the gamble, but I was right in my assumptions.

I did not use the skill because I had a specific plan involving water yet. It was all in an attempt to gain the upper hand after my previous blunder. I had to regain my mana.

I fell to my knees. It was mostly in order to finish the act but it was also natural; I had almost exceeded my limits.

Link saw me fall to my knees. And, with wet feet, he thought that I had something planned, planting the idea in his mind that he had to finish the match as soon as possible. On top of that, I was weak, and I would be unable to defend if he charged now.

So he charged.

I waited the seconds that it took for him to reach me. When he did, he jumped forward, and slashed his sword down, while I made no attempt to move. His sword hit me on my shoulder, but glanced off of it. He looked shocked for a second, and I took the chance to grab his right wrist.

"Drain touch!" I shouted, and a purple aura manifested itself on the point of contact.

Link was certainly not ready for this, and before he could react, I had sucked up a large portion of his mana reserves, and as my own were fully restored, Link dropped his sword and shield, placed both hands on the ground. My one, which was still grabbing his wrist followed it.

"Freezing palm!" He said.

A small platform of ice appears under his feet, freezing my hand, and one of his in place.

"Sparking Palm. Flaring Palm."

I horrible aching pain racked my body as I collapsed. Then a searing, burning one followed,

around my left hand.

For a few seconds, I remained still, but then I got up.

I got up, and analyzed the situation, trying to ignore the lingering pain.

Link's understood my plan when I had grabbed him, and knowing that I had been trying to gain the upper hand in restoring my mana, he decided that he would rather trade blows with me, than just lose mana.

So his attempt to escape involved freezing my hand in place to trap me, and to protect himself from the electricity he sent through the water that I had earlier laid down. In the process, he had lost both of his main weapons to the ground so he could use magic. Links reaction had been rash and instinctive, and he had probably panicked a little subconsciously when I grabbed him, resulting in a flawed plan.

Link had a bow, and whatever else he kept in his pouch. He also had hardly any mana after the combination of the spells he fired off in quick succession, and my drain touch.

My mana was at full capacity, but one of my hands was badly burned from Link's flaring palm, which resulted in a pain that I would have to ignore, and the fact that It would be difficult to use that hand for the remainder of the fight.

All things considered, it would seem that I had the upper hand for the time being.

Link had obviously come to the same conclusion, so his current objective would be… I looked to the side, where the Master Sword and Hylian shield lay. It would be those.

Link had gotten out his bow, and Knocked an arrow.

"Smokescreen."

A thick black smog billowed out from around me. That would buy me some time, because Link couldn't engage me in a melee attack anymore.

I turned back to Link's discarded equipment. I could only touch the sword if Link himself handed it to me, but the shield… I placed my working hand on the ground. "Freeze!" A thick layer of ice now encased the sword. I then picked up the shield, and found it to be surprisingly light. I placed it back where it was before, and decided that it could be of use later.

For now…

"Lurk, Farsight." Normally, I shouted my skills during a fight, but now, when stealth was necessary, I whispered them.

I took out my bow with my burned had, and found that I could at least support the light wooden frame. It turned out lucky that it was my Left hand was hurt, because I only used it for magic anyway, it was not as if I had to wield a sword with it.

With farsight, I could see Link's heat signature. His head and chest were a light red, symbolising that he was tired. But the main thing was, obscured in this smokescreen, I could see him, and he couldn't see me.

He was poised on one knee with his loaded bow out, having mentally recovered from his mistake, very close to the wall.

I mimicked his position, drawing an arrow.

I let out a breath.

"Snipe."

With a quiet _twang,_ the arrow left the bow, and a second later it found it's target, going right through Link's steel bowstring. It snapped in two, and the arrow that was loaded into it fell to the ground, where it embedded itself in the wet sand. My arrow continued to fly, and it whizzed under his arm, ripping the fabric of his tunic.

Without his bow, he was left weaponless, and he had no mana.

I stood up as the smokescreen dispersed.

He looked at me, and I could tell that he was desperately thinking of a way out.

I knew, and I am sure that he did as well, that he had few options.

He chose one of them, and ran straight at me.

I took out my shortsword, and prepared to meet his rush. He threw a punch at me, but I caught it, and prepared to cut his leg to immobilise him. What I didn't expect was for him to pull me to the ground on top of him. He slapped my sword-wrist aside, and it fell beside his shoulder, sinking into the ground.

He braced his legs, and before I hit him, kicked out, effectively flipping me over onto my back.

He got up as I lay there, winded, and dashed to retrieve his sword.

"Flaring palm!" I could hear him yell, using up the last of his mana.

I forced myself up, but I had been thrown off balance.

Staggering dizzily, I could see Link attempting to thaw the ice block that I had frozen his sword in.

I dissociated from the situation, in an attempt to find the possible outcome, depending on my next action.

Option one: I could charge at him now, as he had no means to defend himself, but I would likely still get defeated, as a result of my fatigue.

Option two: I could wait until my dizziness faded, and I had regained my breath, but by then, Link would have his sword back. I would then meet him in a clash. I had a plan if that happened.

Option three: Snipe at him from here. Almost unviable, as my vision was still blurred from the impact of being thrown flat on my back.

I decided to take a gamble. I took out my bow again, took aim at what seemed to be the more likely of the two Links that I was seeing.

"Snipe!" I said.

The arrow flew, and hit him in his right wrist.

He yelped, and switched hands.

"Retreat!" I murmured.

I backed off in order to recuperate.

A few minutes later, my dizziness had more or less worn off, and Link had retrieved his sword.

Without any foreplanning, we walked toward each other slowly. We met in the middle of the battlefield.

No words were exchanged as we smiled, shook hands, and turned around.

We walked twenty paces in opposite directions and turned around. Link drew his sword with his working hand, and I drew my sword with mine.

The advantage was to neither one of us, because though Link was far more skilled in swordplay that I was, I was using my dominant hand, something that could not be said for Link.

The crowd, who had been cheering up until now, held their breaths in a collective silence.

We charged toward each other. Every attack that I launched was parried, and I blocked all of Link's attacks.

The audience was still silent, and every clash of our swords rang out in the open arena.

 _Clang_

 _Shhht_

 _Tch_

The clean swordplay went on for several minutes, and not a sound was heard except the Master Sword hitting my partner with the weird name.

Eventually, we backed off from each other again.

Both of us were sweating horribly.

The Commentator broke the silence.

"Can I remind the fighters that there are two minutes left of your time limit? So, you should…." He trailed off as he received no reaction.

I would need to beat Link within the next two minutes if I was to win the tournament.

I looked up at him, and he finally spoke.

"No bars. Let's fight with all we have left, so that the best man may win."

Links tendencies seemed to have rubbed off on me a little. Because up until recently, I would never hold back for the sake of honour if I had a plan to win.

And he knew it. He was giving me permission.

"Create earth, wind breath," I said, blowing sand into his eyes.

We clashed again, though this time, Link had to fight using only instinct and sound, with his non-dominant hand.

I eventually got a strike on one of his legs, and he fell, the impact knocking his already weary body unconscious.

Silence followed what seemed to have been impossible, the commentator seemingly too stunned to say anything.

The voice of Mitsurugi Kyouya spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have a winner."

* * *

Authors note: Only three parts this time, but one of them was almost 3000 words long. I was planning to end this chapter after the invasion had begun, but after writing this, and I am sure you agree, I thought that there was no better place to end it. Sorry that I sacrificed one thousand extra words to have a good ending; I hope you don't mind much. Oh and also…

 **W**


	12. Chapter 11

Authors note: IM BACK! Get ready for spelling mistakes galore, because, despite it's the length, this chapter was pretty rushed. Sorry!

 **(Revised 25/6/2019)**

* * *

 **Part 1 (Kazuma)**

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we have a winner."

If I said that the crowd erupted into cheers, I would be lying. In fact, quite the opposite happened. Naught but a stunned silence followed my unlikely victory over Link.

But, in due respect, who could blame them?

Link had, no matter how you looked at it, a complete advantage over me in terms of strength, skill, and battle experience. The only thing that I had was my age and my unwavering luck.

And yet, here I was. Link was unconscious by my hand, and the only sound that could .be heard was that of what was inevitably Megumins footfalls as she hurried over to help Link.

Several more seconds passed, with the population still unsure of what to say, or do.

I never got so much as a single cheer. Nobody would ever know whether I would have gotten that, or boos, or even a reaction from the crowd.

Because it was then that the alarm sounded.

It was a very simple sound, comparable to that of a bomb siren from large urban cities on earth, but it somehow had to power to incite terror in a crowd which numbered in the thousands.

Small tremors could be felt through my boots, and this did not calm the citizens' panic. A small stampede was forming, with many people attempting to escape, but they were forced to stop when they realised that the gate that they were fighting to get to was locked and bolted.

"Please calm down. Stay in the stands and you will not be harmed," The king's voice sounded, "Stay calm and everything can proceed in as orderly a fashion as is possible."

Though I didn't expect to see of a reaction to the Kings words, they seemed to have some effect on the crowd, slightly nullifying the cries of what was now a hoard of terrified citizens.

"Even now, thousands of the capitols warriors are risking their lives for our kingdom's safety. It is me that our attackers are after. Please don't worry. You will not be in danger unless you leave." The king continued, his voice amplified by some magical means.

Ha. As if they had a choice on the matter. Also, the king had mentioned that the fighting had already started, though how he knew, I had no idea; the alarm had only just sounded. However, if I were to use this logic to compare the situation to my plan, I should be-

"-Come on. It was you whose idea this was, right!?" Megumins angry voice penetrated my mental stance, interrupting my thoughts. I looked to her and saw that she had link' frame on her back and was gesturing towards the king. "You two should be there!"

"Oh yeah," I responded by brushing off her urgency verbally.

But then I looked at her angry face, realised that I was in great danger of being punched, and began sprinting to get to my pre-arranged position. Megumin was close behind me with Link.

We met our unit halfway. The warriors that I had previously battled against had formed a protective ring around the King and his daughter.

I smiled at the pretty blond girl who was obviously the princess.

"Oh yes," the king noticed " Though this is hardly the time for introductions, this is my Daughter, Iris. Please take care of her."

"Of course," I said as I took Link from Megumin.

The king had begun talking strategy, so nodded my goodbye to her as she ran off.

I shifted Links weight on my back a bit. He felt very light in comparison to the last time I tried to carry him.

"If our original plan fails. Plan B is a secret bunker in which we can take refuge. It is not very well fortified, it is simply difficult to find. It is marked on your maps. Understood?"

We all nodded except for, of course, Link.

"One last thing. Prioritise Iris's Life over my own."

Another collective nod and the king looked at us all carefully, as if searching for any sign of an unexplainable lie. The silence was broken by another tremor, followed by a sharp whizzing sound. I had no time to react as I managed fleeting glance at an arrow that was aimed directly at iris's head.

The person who DID manage to react was Mo, who intercepted the attempted assassination with his shield, resulting in a loud thunk of splitting wood.

In a quick search for the attacker, I saw a long line of archers stood on the opposing arena wall, several hundred metres away.

Being the only person on our pride-of-belzerg dream-team with the means to attack an enemy of such distance, we were already cornered in the low ground.

And so Kyouya chose this time to make his entrance.

He grabbed Iris, and dove behind a large pillar with her.

Apparently, one of the power rangers had the sense to do the same and saved the King form getting stabbed to death by what was essentially a flying stick.

After the other knights had all scrambles for cover, our loveable kyouya thought that it would be the perfect time to scold us all.

"YOU CALL YOURSELVES KNIGHTS!?" He yelled, he then pantomimed what I can safely assume was his view of us. "Oh, we are being shot at! What do we do? Let's all freeze up instead of hiding behind these BIG FUCKING PILLARS!"

"Ehem." The king's cough shut kyouya up. "I would rather that you would refrain from moving to a less-than-professional demeanour in front of me, and, especially, my daughter." His voice had an edge to it.

Kyouya, the power rangers an I all looked at Iris, who was silently giggling to the side.

"Hey, um, what's the plan then?" I asked.

Everybody looked at me in surprise.

"I expected the great strategist Kazuma-sama to have one ready..."

Everybody else nodded in agreement.

"Hey, that's a cool name and all, but I don't need any more responsibility weighing on my shoulders!" I protested.

Iris spoke for the first time.

"If it is a question of responsibility, you are already legally responsible for my safety, because you won the tournament."

I looked at her.

The little girl made a good point.

"I would try to come up with something, but my mind is blank!"

Kazuma used feeble resistance!

"Please, could you think a little harder?" Iris asked.

"..."

Kazuma's feeble resistance wasn't very effective! Kazuma is hesitating!

"For me?" She said with upturned eyes.

It's super effective!

"FIINNNEEE!" I said.

In reality, I had come up with a plan subconsciously when I had been trying to resist Iris's imouto charms. I actually had something of an idea before then, I was just being stubborn.

"Thank you Iris, I didn't expect you to speak to a stranger, but you have really been concentring on that book that Lalatina-sama got you, haven't you?" The king asked his daughter.

"Thank you father, I have found the skillset that it teaches to be quite useful." She said.

"I must admit, I was apprehensive towards it at first, but I am now seeing the fruits of its teachings."

I took a moment to look at them suspiciously but decided that the matter was not of sufficient importance to pursue at the time. I would ask Darkness later.

"And now, I will explain my oh so BRILLIANT plan, that you so wished for, to get the King out of the city."

It was quite simple. At long range, we stood no chance, and putting the civilians in danger by hiding in the crowd was obviously not an option. So I had come to a conclusion. It was the first idea that had come to mind, and it was, well. Outside the box.

"Please break through the floor," I said.

Or maybe, in this case, inside the box.

"What?" About three people asked.

"You heard me."

A few more seconds of silence passed before kyouya took me up on my plan.

He easily pryed a wooden floorboard from the ground, resulting in a large hole.

"Look down. What do you see?"

Wow. I could actually sound cool and condescending at the same time.

"Lots of wooden beams supporting the structure. Also a very big drop after them."

"Go down, and get ready to catch," I said.

"?" he lowered himself through the hole he created, and he disappeared as he fell through. Hopefully landing on one of the beams.

I turned back to the power rangers, Iris and the king.

"Speed is of the essence at the current time. I hope my following actions will have no legal repercussions."

I dashed over to the hole that Mitsurugi went through, and dropped Link's unconscious body in.

"!"

Everybody froze, stunned.

I took the chance to grab Iris, and drop her in as well.

"When you're ready, follow me."

I jumped into the hole as well, making my escape.

I fell for a couple of seconds, then slammed painfully in what seemed to be a beam of wood.

Looking up, I could see Mitsurugi and iris, both looking pissed. Link was still unconscious, slung over Kyouya's shoulder.

"Oops. I almost caught it, but it slipped through my fingers." Kyouya said, spitting every word.

"Ummmn y-you s-see, I ran some calculations, and found that this would be the quickest way to get Iris out of danger..."

When I came to, I was over what seemed to be Link's shoulder.

When he realised that I had awoken, he stopped running and put me down on the wooden beam.

We were underneath the stadium stands. What Link and the power rangers had been running on was one of many wooden poles, making up the support structure for the arena. It was a large drop to the floor: almost a hundred metres, and chances we that if we fell, we would break several of our bones on the horizontal supports on the way down.

"Good idea entering the belly of the arena; I wouldn't have thought of it myself. Though I must say, your methods we questionable..."

I responded to Link's implied criticism with a stereotypical: "How are you standing?"

"In a stroke of luck, Aqua followed you down here. She was going to wake you up, but the king told her that I was of more strategical importance."

Normally, I may have complained, and maybe insulted the king, but seeing as he was running only a few metres in front of us, I made the decision not to.

We were all running on the wooden support, which was about a metre wide, and ran around the entire stadium.

After a few minutes, we came to a stop at a large wall.

"As much as it pains me to have to talk to you," Kyouya called from the front, "What is your plan now?"

"How come it is so painful? If you don't want to talk to me, ask Link instead!"

I expected him to hesitate and apologise, but he turned straight to link.

Am I really that much of a scum patch?

"What do you think then, Link-san?" Mitsurugi asked.

"We should get to ground level, then break through the wall there. From my earlier study of the map, we will emerge onto a path that is opposite to our starting point. From there, we can make it into the open streets, where we will fight our way out of the city." Link said, without missing a beat.

Thank you for the support, friend.

Mitsurugi peered over the edge."I can safely drop up to eight metres," he said. "But that is well over fifty. Do any of you know the feather fall spell?"

Having the only non-knight related class, everybody looked at me.

"Don't have it."

Everybody looked away again. An audible 'useless' aired.

Were they angry with me for some reason?

Link sighed."Do any of you know how to abseil?"

Everybody failed to nod their heads.

"Well, I don't have time to teach you. So watch closely." He said as he took a long rope out of his pouch.

He walked over to the intersection of the wall and the beam, and lay the rope across it. He took the lengths that dangled off of each side and put them over his shoulder, then between his legs in a series of specific ways.

"Sorry iris, but could you climb on my back, it would be best if you come down with me."

She nodded and got on.

Link finished his preparation by taking a leather glove out of his pocket, then putting it on his right hand.

He gave us one final look, then jumped off of the beam.

For a couple of seconds, Iris and Link seemed to be in freefall, then they suddenly began slowing, until they reached a stop a metre from the ground.

Iris jumped off of Links' shoulders, and then Link himself followed suit.

Link looked up at us, indicating that it was our turn next.

We all looked back in disbelief.

After a time that was probably testing Link's patience, we all found ourselves on the ground, by the wall.

Link broke the ensuing silence.

I am going to blow this wall up. The invasion will be underway, and the enemy will be searching for the king. We will have to move fast, but combat is inevitable. Brace yourself."

Everybody backed up as Link took a stick of dynamite from his back, and lit it with some fire magic.

He dropped it and backed up as well, drawing his sword and shield.

A loud bang that left my ears ringing occured and the mess of smoke cleared.

Instantly, a monster jumped through, straight at Link.

Everybody froze in surprise as it pinned link down, who was also evidently stunned.

After a quick grapple, link defeated the monster, and I got a closer look at it. It looked like an oversised lizard. It was coloured a muddy orange, and wielded what seemed to be a lethal boomerang.

Link stood up, in a daze. He had seemed to defeat the monster fairly easily, so I could not explain why he looked so shaken.

"Link?" I asked.

He stood there, unmoving.

"Link? Link!" I shook him.

He snapped out of his stupor and grabbed my arm.

"Lock the King in the bunker, and come to the courtyard to fight!" He shouted.

"What are you talking about?" Kyouya asked.

"JUST DO IT!" Link yelled.

Something was up. I had never known Link to lose his composure so badly before.

"You." Link turned to me, tightening his grip on my arm, "Come with me!"

And he took off running.

Of course, I had no choice but to follow.

* * *

 **Part 2 (Link):**

(Note to self: put the following bit in italics)

The boy was sitting on a bench, play with a toy he had brought with him. He was smiling happily, content with the peaceful atmosphere around him. Kakariko village was a small place, surrounded on all sides by tall mountains.

He was about eight and had short, spikey blonde hair, and blue eyes.

He opened his mouth, and recited a poem from memory.

"The river flows,

The arrow flies,

The mountain's snow,

The wind sighs."

He giggled happily.

Due to the surrounding mountains, there was generally very little wind, but this did not hold true now. A sudden gust lifted the settled blossom into the air as the boy finished his song.

"The hero, the princess,

Hand in hand,

Must bring the light back to this land."

Part 3: (Link)

"Link. Link!"

I came to my senses.

Why did that vision come to my mind now? It was probably a flashback induced by the lizard creature that now lay dead at my feet.

But If a lizalfos had found its way into this world, then...

No. It was too soon to draw a conclusion.

So further information must be found.

"Take the king to safety! Kazuma, come with me!"

"What do you mean link?" Mitsurugi questioned.

"Just do it!"

I knew that I was being rude, but, though it was unnecessary, I had had a thought. If that were to come true...

I took off running.

If Kazuma wasn't following me, it would be a problem.

Looking over my shoulder, I found that he was, but was falling behind due to my superior speed stat.

I adjusted my pace.

I dodged into an alleyway, in order to avoid potential enemies, but the moment I did, I came across a human enemy.

He noticed my approach and readied his sword for a swing, but that was all he could do, because not a second later, his blade went clattering to the ground in two pieces. The welder didn't even have time to look surprised before he found himself bound and gagged against a wall.

I returned the knife that I had used to cut the rope to its sheath, and continued.

My arms had started shaking by now.

I took a breath, knowing that I had to calm myself. Due to the sudden change in events, my fear pumped adrenaline through my body, more than it should.

But my breath was shaky, and it rattled in my throat as it passed.

I was getting dizzy.

I had pushed myself too far. My body was solely running on the healing magic aqua had hurriedly cast earlier.

I put my hand against the wall to steady myself and found that it was covered in blood, showing me that the arrow wound that I had received during the tournament had opened up again.

I slumped down to the dirt, my back against the wall, and held my head in my hands. I breathed.

Two seconds in. Hold it for four seconds, out for four seconds, until I calmed down.

"Link?" Aquas voice opened my eyes. "What was that about?"

I was silent for another second, collecting my thoughts.

"Hey! You owe us an explanation!" It was Kazuma's voice this time.

These two already knew about the existence of other worlds, so it would be fine to tell them, as long as I omitted certain details.

"That monster that we just saw..."

"Yes?"

I took another breath. "It was from the world I come from. And I thought. If there is one of those here, there might be more."

"So?" Aqua and Kazuma asked at the same time.

"Remeber back when you guys were captured? The dude said that their initial bombardment would be followed by a large army?"

They nodded.

"What if it's a monster army? Lizalfos have been known to follow a leader."

Aqua seemed at loss, but Kazuma widened his eyes in realization.

"Could you please explain it to aqua?" I asked.

"If it is a monster army, I see three immediate threats... One: An organised monster army will likely be following a dedicated leader. If this leader is smart in any way, he will be able to exploit our weakness using an entire army. Two: The capitals forced are currently equipped to fight humans rather than monsters. Three: Monsters like the one we saw earlier are much faster than humans, so they will probably arrive before the preliminary bombardment is defeated." He faltered. "Right?"

I smiled at Kazuma's tendency to lose all form of confidence at the end of an explanation.

"Perfect. In fact, I only noticed point one," I said. " Now that you mention it, point three could be a big problem, should the crimson demons arrive late."

"That doesn't sound good... you should go and help," Aqua said.

We should. But there was more than one problem at hand. Aqua, of course, would be unaware. I looked to Kazuma, who had his hand to his chin, thinking.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked him.

"I'm out of ideas." He said. "Let's find some shelter for now. Maybe then I will be able to think straight."

I began running. "Got it, follow me."

After five minutes of running, we came to a stop in front of a small shop.

I pushed my way in, and found myself in a familiar room, with stacks of unpacked boxes laying, with no shelves.

"Nobuyuki-san?" I called.

* * *

Authors note: Well, this chapter was comprised of pretty much just running. Sorry that the early release was so bad, but I have fixed most of the previous errors that were there before. Well, see you in the next one!


	13. Chapter 12

Authors note: So, I began writing directly after uploading the last chapter. Or rather, like an hour after. So, once again, sorry for the messiness and general bad literature that was the last chapter. It should be revised by the time you read this, and if it is not, it is the first thing on my priority list.

* * *

 **Part 1: (Megumin)**

After leaving Link with Kazuma, rather unwillingly, I began running through the alley system that the Capital of Belzerg was endowed with. It enabled me to run almost parallel to the high street, without being detected.

It wasn't that I didn't trust Kazuma, we were good friends; it was him that had been taking me for my daily explosion recently, seeing as Link was often busy with mercenary work and the like. I just really didn't trust him.

I had, after all, witnessed the incident in which Kazuma learned his first skill, and promptly used it to seize Chris's underwear as a family heirloom. In all honesty, I didn't really feel sorry for her. At the time, the only emotion that I was processing was relief that I was not the victim.

These thoughts led me to the entrance of the city, where there were two enemy soldiers standing guard, one on either side of the gate, which was open.

I didn't really have many options. Rather, I had one. There was no way I could disable the guards. I took a quick look around to make sure that we were alone and jumped out of my hiding place.

From the guards' point of view, everything seemed silent, uneventful. They were probably wishing that they were fighting along with their comrades in the castle courtyard. Then, all of a sudden, a small girl(me) with glowing eyes(lol) sprinted straight between him and his colleague, who shared a similar look of bewilderment.

After clearing the gate, I dove behind a large rock and listened. Judging from the footstep sounds, I was quickly being followed by the guards who must have finally reacted.

I frantically looked around, but found no means of escape. I was ready to step out to surrender, but then-

"I am Dodonko!"

"!"

"Freeze gust!"

"!"

A giant sheet of ice materialized underneath the guards' feet.

"And I am Funifura! Paralyze!"

Both guards, who had previously been scrambling to regain their feet after having slipped, froze up. Well, paralyzed.

"HA HA! I bet you thought that you were tough, but you just got decimated by I, Funifura, the Crimson magic clan's number one schoolgirl!"

"Don't say that in front of Arue... Hey! It's Megumin!"

I scowled at them.

"What is with this mean Megumin?"

"I feel as if she has changed quite a bit since she left…"

I stood up.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked.

Dodonko's eyes began glowing. "Fufu. I'm glad you asked! We have been selected as the Crimson Magic clan's dedicated scouts!"

"..."

"By that, she meant we snuck into the explosion circle, and they sent us ahead to get rid of us." Funifura clarified.

"..."

"How sad," I said.

"...S-so now… I had b-better report b-back now..." Dodonko took out a scroll of teleportation and disappeared, fleeing the scene.

"How sad," I repeated.

I looked over at Funifura, who had stayed behind. She noticed my looking and addressed me.

"I assume that you are here to tell our battleforce the situation?" Noticing my surprise, she continued. "Yes, I am well aware of your newfound connections, now that you have partied with a somewhat renowned person."

I nodded. "The main battle is in the castle courtyard, at the end of the high street. The Crimson Demon forces need to help finish off the enemies there, then help fortify the city."

"I assume that there are enemy reinforcements coming?"

I nodded at Funifura's question and posed one of my own.

"I thought that the Capital and our village are no longer allies… what is the Chief even thinking?"

"Huh? Oh, right. When we received a backup request, the chief held it to majority vote. 83% of the attack force was bored and wanted to go." Funifura said. "Well, I had better report back now." She disappeared.

"..."

Considering the general personality of the people of my old home, this was actually pretty believable.

It was then that Dodonko popped back into existence next to me.

"It seems I have forgotten to actually gather any information…"

"Funifura has already left to tell them," I told her bluntly. "It seems that you don't know how to do your job properly."

"! It was Funi's job too!"

I looked at Dodonko sideways. "But she _did_ do it properly, didn't she?"

What kind of things did Kazuma like to mutter during times like these? Ah yes.

A critical hit!

While Do was grumbling, Funi reappeared.

"I only just got away. They wanted me to _wait_ there while they attacked. They will be here any moment."

"...and?" I asked.

"Could we please come with you to wherever you are going? Without you and Yunyun in the village, nothing much happens… We are supremely bored…"

I nodded. "All right then." And I began running.

In fact, there wasn't any specific place I recalled having to go, but seeing as Link said 'A safe place,' he was inevitably meaning one place he had been attracted to quite recently.

I pushed open the door to a certain Magic shop.

* * *

 **Part 2 (Kazuma):**

 _Beside me, Link called out. "Nobuyuki-san?"_

"Who is there!?" A harsh voice called out.

Somebody who must have been Nobuyuki himself came into view, brandishing a wand at me and Link.

His face softened a Little when he saw who it was.

"Link-san and his companions. What brings you here?"

I looked at Link.

"If anything, only to collect our thoughts and rest a little."

"I see." The old man nodded. "Well, if by sheer coincidence, some more of your friends have also arrived… I'll take you to them…"

He led us around the counter, to a room in the back of the shop, which was large, and quite empty, except for what seemed to be a dining table in the corner.

What was interesting was the people sitting at the table. There was Megumin, to whom I paid no heed, and two more Crimson Demons. Of these two, there was one that I could not ignore.

She had a face and hair that bore a striking resemblance to that of a certain character that I had come to like, back in Japan.

I nudged Link, remembering that he often showed knowledge about my world.

"Am I hallucinating, or is Azunyan sitting before us?"

He looked at me questioningly.

I wasn't surprised, he was a filthy riajuu after all.

(a/n: If you don't believe me, look up 'Azusa Nakano.' She is like the exact same as Funifura)

"I appreciate that you came to meet me, but I will have no choice but to brand you as a stalker if you continue following me, Kazuma."

Megumin said this while looking down at the book she was reading.

"I'm in your party! Rather, the problem here is you! What is with this awkward atmosphere?"

Looking more closely at Azusa, I realised that she wasn't, after all, Azusa. She had red eyes.

Link, who had slumped down in a chair the second he entered, finally regained enough energy to look up

"Hello," He said.

At least he made an effort.

"HELLO! I am Funifura! Number one schoolgirl in the Crimson Demon village, and master of intermediate magic!"

"And I am Dodonko! _I_ am the number one schoolgirl in the Crimson Demon village, and I also know intermediate magic!"

Link looked tiredly at two, hardly looking surprised.

"I am Link…" He said. "Um… Number two registered Knight in Belzerg. Master of… well… Broadswords?"

The two nutcases smiled at Link.

"Ah. I like this one." Dodonko said.

"Yes, he was the only foreign person so far to give a decent introduction, though it was a bit half-hearted."

"No, you only like 'this one' because he is a boy that isn't Buzucoily."

Megumin said this to the two girls, who were now fussing over their hair.

Link didn't react, because he had happened to fall asleep after his introduction, joining Aqua's comatose state.

"On top of that," Megumin continued, "He does not seem capable of feeling any Romantic or sexual attraction toward anyone." She then pointed to me. "And this one is a perverted shut-in."

The Crimson Demons looked to me.

"Still better than Buzucoily." She said.

They are really discussing this in front of me!? I knew that I should be irritated, but part of me couldn't help questioning.

Had my popular period finally arrived?!

"Ehem." Nobuyuki cleared his throat, and silence fell.

"I am very tired, so excuse me, but I will retire to my quarters. Please come to wake me up when Link awakes."

He left through the door.

Funifura chose this time to stand up and walk towards me.

"Are you just going to stand there? Come and sit down!"

She pressed her body up against mine, and it was then that I realised that she was rather more endowed than Azusa.

She guided me over to the table and forced me down into a chair.

Forced. I promise I didn't enjoy it or anything.

"Hmpfh. Trust Funi to make a move on someone she just met. The Crimson Magi clan's number one slut."

Megumin said this to Funifura.

"!"

Was Megumin getting jealous!? Was I finally accumulating my rightfully deserved harem!?

Funifura ignored Megumin, and we sat down.

Dodonko's mouth was agape, and Megumin was looking… well, pissed.

I would say more, but I won't. Just know that nothing happened.

We sat there in awkward silence until Link woke up.

* * *

 **Part 3 (Link):**

I woke up to an awkward silence. I looked around. Megumin was sitting opposite me, and the others on the left side of the table. Kazuma had both of Megumin's friends sandwiching him. They were unusually close.

I cracked a smile.

Good for him. It seemed he was finally achieving his dream.

However, seeing me awake, he jumped up from his position, surprising the girls.

"Link is awake! Time to go get Nobuyuki!"

He marched out of the room.

I looked at Megumin questioningly. She just shook her head, with an irritated expression on her face.

I turned to Megumin's friends, who had introduced themselves as Funifura and Dodonko.

They were looking at each other with wide grins on their faces. When they noticed that I was looking at them, they turned to me and smiled more warmly.

"Did you sleep well?" Funifura asked.

"Would you like me to get anything for you?"

My face was feeling quite hot.

"N-no, I'm fine."

"Pffh."

Across from me, Megumin made this noise.

Deciding it was best to change the subject, I said:

"You are Arch-wizards, right? Which spells do you know?"

Their smiles widened.

"Fufu. Changing the subject, I see. All right then; I'll play along."

How could I be so stupid? Their intelligence, like Megumin, would be far above average. I couldn't make such obvious escape attempts!

"I know all of the beginner spells, and Freeze gust, Blade of wind and flash," Dodonko said.

For a schoolgirl, really, it was not a bad selection of Magic.

"And you?" I asked, turning to Funifura.

"The Beginner Spells, Fireball, Freeze gust and Paralyze." She said, still smiling cheekily.

"I see."

Another silence followed.

Kazuma and Nobuyuki made their entry at this time, saving our dignity.

"So, Link, I assume that you have a plan?" Nobuyuki addressed me.

"No. I really can't think of anything that we can do to help right now." I said, letting out a breath.

"Then maybe we shouldn't," Kazuma said.

"..."

"Why is that?" This was Megumin.

"Well, the Crimson magic clan Is about to attack, right?"

"Yes. They received their information at least 45 minutes ago. They must be ready to attack, or are already attacking." This was Funifura, who seemed to have changed personalities in an instant.

"We have limited information on the current battle strategy, and we may even get caught in the crossfire if we were to attack now. We should wait until the enemies initial bombardment has been defeated, then make our move." Kazuma said.

"Which will be what?" This time it was Dodonko.

These Crimson demons were fast on the uptake. It might have been a side effect of over-exerting myself, but, even after a 20-minute sleep, I was feeling slow.

"We don't have any idea of the nature of the enemy reinforcements. I will scout them out when they arrive, and use a scroll to teleport back here. We will then all go to help, making an individual plan en route."

Yes. I would leave strategy today to Kazuma.

* * *

 **Part 4 (Link):**

"Are all of you ready?" I asked.

"Yes. Would you please stop asking that?" Megumin asked.

Funifura and Dodonko just nodded, looking a little pale.

I reminded myself that this would probably be the first time that they would be participating in a battle of this scale.

"Yes! You can count on me Link!" Aqua chirped.

Somehow she was still positive.

"..."

"So I have a plan," Kazuma said, appearing in front of us.

He not dressed in his normal adventuring clothes; he had on a chain vest, covering a black leather shirt. He also wore leather bottoms, with plate metal covering the knees.

On the other hand, I had put on some standard belzerg armour, par the helmet. My Champion tunic was ripped in several places, and against a group of enemies, a better defence stat was more important than speed.

"Nobuyuki-san?" Kazuma asked.

"Hm?"

"Could I set up some teleport scrolls for this room?"

"Of course."

"Right." He got to work, explaining our objectives as he went. "This, for once, is all-out combat. Darkness has been fighting this whole time, so our first priority is to have her healed. Aqua, you wait here. I will have her teleported to you."

She nodded.

"I will be distributing these teleport scrolls to the most wounded. I want you to heal as many as you can. I want Megumin, Funi, and Dodonko-san to use these scrolls," He chucked them all a scroll. "To teleport into a vantage point."

At this, Funifura and Dodonko scowled, but Kazuma ignored them and continued.

"While Megumin may be useless most of the time, she does wield the most powerful attack in the city, so your job is to protect her in case the need arises," he said. "Link. You just help in whatever way you can."

"Understood," I said.

He chucked the rest of us a teleportation scroll.

"All right then. The battle between the enemy army and the Capital and the Demons had already started by the time I got there. This will teleport you into a location that I believe suits you."

He then gave us all another scroll.

"And this one will take you back here, where Aqua will be, in case you need healing."

He looked at us all.

"Ready?"

"For god's sake, yes I'm ready."

Megumin said this, almost spoiling a dramatic moment.

"Go."

I sent mana into the first of the two scrolls and winked out of existence.

* * *

 **Part 5 (Megumin):**

Funifura, Dodonko and I all reappeared halfway up the steps leading to the main door of the castle.

My friends' battle-sickness had seemed to wear off because they now just looked excited.

Before us was carnage. There was a sea of pure brutal combat. Many people, from both sides, were lying on the ground, mortally wounded, or already dead. Scanning the chaos, I found Link's blond head and saw that he was already fighting.

And then there were the other Crimson Demons, and from them burst light, Fire, Lightning and Ice, feeling tens of enemies at once. It was brutal.

"Blade of Wind!"

"Fireball!"

Funifura's fireball, amplified by Dodonko's wind attack went flying into the crowd, resulting in a small explosion of flames.

Suddenly, a whizzing sound flew right by my left ear. Looking to the ground behind me, I saw an arrow had embedded itself in the ground beside me.

I hit the ground, as did Funi. Dodonko fired off a 'Sleep' beforehand but soon followed suit.

There were enemies advancing up the steps already.

My friends got up and began firing off spells again, trying to slow our attackers.

We held out for a few minutes but were soon reached.

I was about to raise my hands to surrender, but then I spotted it.

And I froze.

As did Funi and Dodonko.

And everybody else on the battlefield.

* * *

 **Part 6 (Link):**

As soon as I materialized, I was forced to duck between two people, who must have been engaging on the teleport point. I span, dodging another blade.

I drew The Master Sword and gave a quick chop to the enemies thigh, and he crumpled. No lasting damage, but he was incapacitated.

I had won, only to find somebody else right in front of me. This time, he was in full plate armour.

He swiped at me, but I easily dodged, passing close under his arm. In that moment, I sheathed my sword, drew my knife with my other hand, cut the strap on his helmet, and flicked it off. Then I used the hilt of the knife to knock him unconscious.

In such closely knit combat, it would be difficult to use the Master Sword, ad it was better suited for Medium-Melee attacks.

I kept my knife out.

About twenty minutes of combat passed, and I had defeated countless enemies, but my constant movement and my mistake of wearing full plate armour was taking its toll. I could keep going, but not for another ten minutes.

All of a sudden, the person I was facing dropped their weapon; a large spear.

His expression transformed into one of fear.

I looked past him and through the gate.

And I dropped my knife.

* * *

Authors note: Ummm. My chapters are going to be shorter than usual from now on. Really sorry, I just don't have much time to write any more. Only about 4 hours to write, spell check and upload. So expect them to be about 3000 words long from now on. I hope you enjoy them anyway! And to Shipwright: Thank you for your review! I will take everything that you said into consideration. I especially agree with your point that the world sometimes bends to the plot; that is almost certainly to do with bad pre-planning on my part. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! See you all in the next one!


	14. Chapter 13

Authors Note: Woah, I asked for negative reviews, but Kian Xki, that was brutal! I am sorry that you do not enjoy the Fanfic. Normally, I would try to fix the things that you pointed out, but I seem to be so far gone that the story is beyond repair! In fact, I completely agree with you in (most) of your points. Well, it says a lot about the quality of a story if the writer himself dislikes it. It was a huge mistake on my part to dive in with little to no plan, and it left the story with some major plot holes, and some stupid things in general. Nonetheless, I will try to fix the fixable things, and work around the undoable. I am going to continue writing. And for those who are still reading, I already have a plan for a volume 2 for when this one finishes, so I will continue to plan that out so it will end out better than the first.

Authors Note 2: From now on, I will be surrounding skills in square brackets. ( [ ] ) Sorry, no idea what they are called.

* * *

 **Part 1 (Kazuma):**

No sooner had I materialized than I began. I fazed in where, luckily enough, there was an absence of direct combat close to me. I took out an explosion scroll from the endless bag that Link had let me use. And I put it back in.

In a fight such as this, how could there be no official medic post? The answer was obvious that there couldn't be. I ran up to the nearest friendly knight and asked.

"Where can I get medical attention?"

He turned to me for a second, and responded:

"Just inside the castle doors."

I nodded thanks and turned around again.

"[Lurk] [Enemy Detection]"

My head was instantly full of a loud buzzing sound, of such a high volume that I could no longer hear the sounds of the battle behind me. Realising my mistake, I deactivated the latter skill. There were hundreds of enemies right behind me, and had they the chance, they would down me without hesitation.

I was running up the stairs to the castle, and though the response from my '[Enemy Detection]' skill had been chaotic earlier, I was mostly free of enemy attention. Most of the arrows were flying to a point above me, where the stairs levelled out.

As I was running close to one side, [Lurk] was working to a decent potency, and keeping me more or less invisible.

When, a few minutes later, I reached the top of the stairs, I saw the three crimson demons I had befriended(?), and two were shielding the other, along with several capital knights. Of course, I had told them to do this, as part of the 'worst-case scenario' plan.

"[Magic Barrier]!"

Funifura and Dodonko yelled this as I passed, but without asking, I knew it was just a reinforcement of an existing skill. Every attack, be it magic or physical, was cleanly intercepted by the barrier. It materialised as an intricate weaving of green lines, but rather than a dome, it was like a sheet of fabric, as every projectile sent waves in the shield from the point of contact.

I ran past them, and up to the door of the castle.

It was firmly locked.

I looked behind me.

Ah, now I understood.

It was just another massive show of this world's stupid incompetence.

I walked up behind the Crimson Demons' Barrier, and found that I was not repelled. I tapped the shoulder of the nearest knight. He jumped from where he was sitting, not having sensed my approach due to my [Lurk].

As he turned his head, I saw that he was gripping the side of his stomach, where his armour seemed to be badly damaged. He was injured.

"Do you know where the medical post is?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Heh, If I knew that… I would be there…" He said between breaths.

"Alright then, take this then," I said, handing him the teleportation scroll.

He looked at me questioningly.

"It is addressed to a secure location here in the capital, where there is a powerful-"

For some reason, I broke into a fit of coughs.

"A powerful arch-priest waiting." I resumed.

He nodded again.

"She will heal you," I affirmed.

He nodded thanks and disappeared.

I had attracted the attention of the rest of the group. As I began distributing the scrolls, Megumin turned to greet me.

"Nice of you to join us." She said, "Tis' a nice day." She continued, as a plume of fire rose to the sky from the battlefield behind her.

Megumin must have thought she was quite funny, but I was currently far too stressed to appreciate the humour. Also, where did she get that attitude?!

"I deeply apologise," I decided to play along, as I made another teleport scroll. "But I am in quite a hurry, as my services are needed elsewhere. Good day to you."

Megumin suddenly looked very bored.

"You have taken all of my company, and now you are going to leave too? I now don't have anyone to talk to except-"

"-You have us!" Dodonko said brightly.

"-Except for these two sluts." Megumin finished.

"Mean," Funi said this.

"So mean." Dodonko agreed.

I glanced behind me and found that everyone had already teleported away.

Where the medics actually were, I wasn't sure, but I had an idea.

But they weren't the priority.

I handed a few more scrolls to Megumin.

"Give these to any more soldiers who come for a Priest, but can't get healed because of somebody high up in the work chain being a retard."

I then activated [Lurk] again, and began down the stairs. While up there, I had spotted some yellow in the sea of red and grey and was now making my way towards its general location.

On my way down, I spotted some enemies going the other way. Obviously, they didn't notice me because I still had [Lurk] enabled. My worry was the girls that I had left behind. I quickly dismissed the thought though, remembering that, for once, only one was incompetent/mentally disabled.

In some time, I made it to Darkness, who was being ganged on by two people.

As I drew closer, I heard what she was saying.

"Urgh! You vermin! For two men to gang up on female knight! Huh! You will continue beating me into submission, and when the battle is over, you will take me to your leader, who will tell you to take me down to the dungeons, where you will have all manner of torture devices! Eventually though, seeing me so vulnerable will force you to release all of your pent-up desires, that you will surely have as deprived men! But I will resist! You may have my body, but you may not have my heart! Kuh!"

"..."

During her speech, the two enemies had been slowing their attacks, and by the end, had stopped altogether. Deciding that Darkness was more trouble than she was worth, I left her where she was, as did her adversaries.

Don't get me wrong, If she had been seriously injured, I would have teleported her, but she showed no sign of damage at all.

She was just following her tendencies of being a hardcore M.

I turned to walk away, but, suddenly, I was on the ground.

I force had slammed into me.

"Kazuma!"

It was Link.

"Good, I found you."

Not even bothering to apologise for knocking me over, he grabbed my arm again and began running toward where I had come from.

Looking behind me, I saw the carnage. There were blood and body parts everywhere close to the courtyard gate. Behind them, I could see hundreds, if not thousands, of creatures that were unknown to me. There were many of those Lizard creatures that Link had fought earlier but in blue and black variants. But also others that I had never seen before.

I decided it would be best to follow Link.

* * *

 **Part 2 (Link):**

When I say that I dropped my knife, it was only for a second. Despite my initial surprise, I recovered quickly and regained my blade. It wasn't long before I was running for Megumin's position, atop the Castle entrance stairs.

More or less instantly, I collided with an invisible Kazuma.

Of course, I asked him to follow me.

Around me, people began moving. But they were not fighting. They, like Kazuma and I, were retreating.

We made it to Megumin's position in no time, as compared to the people we were racing, Kazuma and I had very small frames, so we could easily dodge around the others.

"Kazuma, I trust you will be staying this time?" Megumin asked.

"How are you so calm at a time like this!? Did not _see_ that group of people get massacred!?" Kazuma lost his composure.

"Well, I guess it is because it hasn't yet registered that we will probably be next."

"Ah. I see."

Interrupting them, I told Megumin.

"You will probably need to use your explosion soon. But only fire when I say."

She nodded.

"I believe _I_ am the party leader-"

"Oh yes. I will be assuming command for now, because I have an idea as to what is happening."

"...ok," Kazuma responded meekly.

"I need you to bring Aqua here. Use teleportation scrolls. Make three for this location, and use one of the others to get you to her. Use two in getting her back."

He nodded and got to work.

"Funifura, Dodonko, stop using magic for now. Work on regenerating your mana supplies."

Not saying a word, they collapsed. It seemed they had been casting Magic Barrier and other spells this whole time.

"Megumin. Go and bring some crimson demons to me. Preferably ones that know some flashy magic."

"Fufu! You underestimate my clan! We all have access to flashy-"

"Never mind, I'll do it myself."

* * *

A/n: Yes, I know, I'm pitiful. It's proving very difficult to fit into this new routine that I have, and I am not as motivated to write as I was once was. There are things that I am trying to learn, and, basically, despite my overwhelming wealth of free time, I am choosing to do other things with it. Still, I don't plan on giving this up, and even if I do, I promise that it will not be without forewarning.


	15. Chapter 14

Authors Note: Thanks for your review Dereturd! It really helped give me motivation when I had very little!

And, if I do say so myself, this chapter is a very good one.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the characters mentioned in this story, nor the world they live in. All rights go to their respective owners.**

* * *

 **Part 1 (Megumin):**

"Hey, I was joking, wait!..."

He had already been lost in the accumulating crowd. Normally, I would have attempted to follow him, but I could tell that it would be futile. In fact, we were all in a pretty terrible position. There was no fighting room to speak of, and I could still see monsters pouring into the courtyard. From the way Link had just acted, I could tell that he had at least an idea, so there was not a lot of reason to be worried.

A loud bang forced my head to turn, but there was nothing left but a cloud of smoke in the air a few feet above the heads of the people below it. While the smoke blew away quickly, it was quickly followed by a bright purple beam, fired from the crowd. Everyone fell silent for a second.

"DON'T PANIC! LISTEN!"

Well, don't panic were the right words to shout. Link was good at this. Somehow, his voice penetrated the crowds' clatter. Everybody was silent, and a circle opened in the crowd, with Link, Kazuma, and a petrified looking Yunyun at the centre.

"I know it's a lot to ask, but I need you all to set aside your differences and work together here."

They all began shouting again. Normally, Link's next words would have been something passive, in an attempt to restore order and reason, but he surprised me with his response. Perhaps he was losing his patience.

"All right then," He said "Die here because of your inability to cooperate! It makes no difference to me!"

Despite the stray from his normal character, his words were, once again, effective. Silence fell over the area. But now, Link seemed to be lost for words.

"So, um…. Don't kill each other."

He ran back into the crowd, leaving Yunyun behind in the circle. She fainted and would have fallen to the floor if it weren't for Funifura ruching out and catching her under the shoulder.

Kazuma appeared in front of me and handed me two more scrolls.

"Kazuma, you really abuse the use of these, don't you? Why don't you actually learn the teleport ability?"

He ignored me and turned away, saying:

"Head over to Nobuyuki's place and bring Aqua here with those scrolls. Link thinks we might need her."

I glared at him for a second, but, already walking away, he didn't notice me. I channelled a little mana into the scroll in my hand, after pocketing the other.

My vision went blank for a couple of seconds, then I materialized in a room, where Aqua was sitting on a chair, pouting.

"Hmph!"

She made this sound when I asked her what was wrong. After a few more seconds of silence, she clarified.

"You haven't been-"

"Actually, forget that, come with me."

I grabbed her arm and teleported back.

We appeared more or less exactly where we were before, except now the area was clear. Only a few soldiers were remaining, and they had begun charging down the stairs, where there was now a full-on human vs monster battle.

Aqua dashed away. When I looked to where she went, she had gone up to Kazuma, and said:

"You didn't send me nearly enough dead people!"

Kazuma, unsure of how to respond to this outrageous complaint, stood there stuttering.

A tap on my shoulder told me that Link was asking for my attention.

"Hello," I said.

"I have to ask you some questions, for tactical reasons."

"Right to the point I see."

He nodded.

"What is the range of your explosion?"

"Infinite!"

"..."

He looked at me blankly.

"About a kilometre."

"Right, good to know."

He said this after willing a truthful answer out of me.

"How do you control the power?"

"I don't… um… the more mana I concentrate, the larger the result."

Link put his finger to his chin, thinking hard, as I stayed silent. After a few seconds, he looked up.

"If I were to have Kazuma channel my mana into you before casting the explosion, would it affect the result?"

Actually, I wasn't quite sure.

"Well, it makes sense, but I don't want to, in case it damages my mana reserves."

"What if we did it as you channel your mana into your staff? Does your staff have a maximum capacity?"

It was not a bad idea.

"Well, yes, but it limits are astronomical… Funifura made it for me…"

"Hehe."

Kazuma had snuck up behind us.

"Who is this Megumin who is blushing and acting all dere? Is she reminiscing on her Yuri with her crimson demon friends?"

He said this as Link and I conversed over serious matters.

"Megumin-san still uses my staff!? I am honoured! I hope it brings you much pleasure every day!"

Funifura, you are not helping!

"Hey!. Did you bring me here for me to do nothing!?"

We all turned to Aqua.

"Isn't this the same Aqua who is always complaining that she is too busy to work?"

Kazuma pointed this out.

"W-well," Aqua said, immediately faltering, "This and t-that are two different things!"

"No, they aren't."

I spoke up. "Why do you all like bullying Aqua? Even though it _is_ a lot of fun, you shouldn't make fun of people."

"Ah, it is nice to see that Megumin cares about me. Wait, did you say it was fun?-"

"Alright then, make yourself useful for once, and use your abnormally large mana reserves to help me make the biggest explosion ever!... Ah, it seems that I am a hypocrite."

It seemed that even I could not help ridiculing her.

"So, Megumin," Link broke the silence. "Get ready to cast explosion, as a precaution, along with Kazuma and Aqua. Yunyun!" He called out to her. "You get ready to cast _your_ most powerful spell. Funifura, Dodonko, find all of the crimson demons you can and tell them to come up here for briefing. I have a plan."

After relaying his instructions, we split up. Link teleported away, probably to Nobuyuki's place.

Well, as he said, I had better get ready.

* * *

 **Part 2 (Link):**

' _Great goddess Nayru, become the source of my strength, bestow me the wisdom to match the hero of time.'_

I was kneeling in Nobuyuki's basement.

' _Great goddess Din, become the source of my strength, bestow unto me the power to protect the capital.'_

A tremor shook the ground, evidently coming from the battle in the courtyard.

' _Great goddess Farore, become the source of my strength, bestow unto me the courage_ to _stand before the enemy who has followed me even here.'_

I repeated the mantra that I had read from the books. It was said that the Hero of time had the ability to summon god-like powers from the heavens.

While their legends had all but died out in modern-day Hyrule, I spoke to them.

And received no answer.

Which, of course, was what I had expected. I had tried several times before but always reached the same result.

I sighed and stood up.

"Any luck?" Nobuyuki said from behind me.

I slowly shook my head, and teleported away.

Standing back on the top of the courtyard steps, I found myself surrounded by black and red.

Feeling a tug on my sleeve, I looked around to find Megumin.

"Hey, when do I get to blast them?"

"Not yet, and you are not blasting _them_ …. Hey, why'd you change clothes?" I asked, noticing.

"I couldn't stay in your ugly colours forever. Also, you have done the same."

It was true, I had changed back into the tunic that Princess Zelda gave to me.

"Never mind that now… HEY!" I called, getting the attention of all of the other demons, "Who here knows the 'Magic Barrier' spell?"

At my question, about 3 quarters of the crimson demons raised their hands.

"Everyone who doesn't load all of your mana into the same magnetite crystal!"

They protested, but Megumin set them straight.

The crystal was handed to me.

"Those who do know 'Magic barrier,' position yourself at the entrance to the-"

I froze, feeling a horribly familiar chill going up my spine. Looking around I could see that everybody else was also holding a breath. I slowly turned my head and saw a beast. It was an indescribable behemoth, purple with decay, radiating malice.

Thanks to the fact that the castle was on a hill, I could see out the front of capitol walls. From this I could see that it was nearing it.

I regained my composure. "Position yourselves at the entrance, and work together to make the toughest barrier you can!"

I had a feeling it would follow me, though its motives were unknown.

Former wielder, now the literal incarnation itself, of the Triforce of courage.

Calamity Ganon

* * *

 **Part 3 (Link):**

"I think we've got about 5 minutes before it is in range. But my range is about the same distance as the capital wall… with this much mana," Megumin beckoned to the large manatite crystal in my hand, "The capital wall, and a good portion of the housing will be destroyed."

"I assumed as much," I responded, "That's why I sent the rest of your clan to form a barrier."

"Ah, I see. However, Link normally isn't one to go for utter annihilation of the enemy. Is there a reason that you are going this overboard?"

"I am not going overboard, even this might not be enough."

"..."

Megumin might have normally protested, but I guess she could tell how serious I was.

At that moment, Kazuma seemed to have found his words.

"W-what is that thing?"

I looked to him. His face was white.

"It-"

"Doesn't matter, I can kill it! Sacred Highness Exorcism!"

Aqua held two 'peace' signs to her forehead, and she fired a golden-blue beam. It hit the approaching monster dead in the face.

Surprisingly enough, she made it roar, but the spell, which would have instantly killed any other devil in this world, seemed to do barely any damage.

"Huh!?"

Everybody was silent, and Kazuma, somehow, went paler.

Kazuma understood more than any of the rest of the people present just how powerful Aqua was. For her finishing move to have little effect, even in her mortal form, must have been shocking.

"Actually," I said, "Aqua, draw an exorcism circle around the target location. If you can't finish it in time, don't worry, just hide behind the Crimson Demon's barrier. If you can, activate it when I give the signal."

I took a breath. Since Kazuma had assumed command of the party, I found it very tiring to give orders.

I sat down. The crimson demons and Aqua had left, and the only people still there were Funifura, Dodonko, Megumin, Kazuma and me.

' _Great golden goddesses of Hyrule. Bestow your power unto me. Give me the strength I need'_

Once again, I received no response.

I waited a couple of minutes before opening my eyes.

I stood up.

"Alright then Megumin," I said.

She stood up as well and raised her staff. Kazuma also approached, and to him, I gave the manatite crystal, which contained the accumulated mana of the crimson demon clan.

"Kazuma, casting Explosion requires my full concentration. I have to have you control the mana flow into my body, and I will control the density of the mana in my staff, to keep it stable."

Kazuma nodded.

I stood forward, in front of Megumin and Kazuma.

Ganon was about. a Kilometre in front of us.

I unsheathed the Master Sword, and raised it to the sky. Three beams of differing colours struck the Magic sword from the heavens, and even the battle below us paused, to observe its beauty.

Suddenly, it stopped. I looked at the blade of the Master Sword, which was now glowing Blue, Green, And Red. The light had a rippling effect, almost like the reflection of water.

I stepped aside.

' _Thank you, goddesses'_

I lowered the sword and pointed it directly at Ganon.

"Skyward Strike!" I yelled.

A beam of blue light came forth, and from my signal, aqua matched it with hers. A circular blue aura manifested itself around the Calamity Ganon, trapping it in place.

Aqua's Sacred Turn Undead.

My attack never made it to Gannon, however. It was stopped in its tracks. A second magic barrier, likely one made by Gannon himself appeared.

This one, rather than rippling, was solid, but even so, after a few seconds, cracks showed.

At this time, however, I realised that this attack was draining both my mana and stamina; I could not keep it going for long.

The capital held its breath as more cracks in the barrier appeared.

Finally, in a brilliant display of blinding coloured light, it disintegrated, along with the attack aided by the goddesses.

"Now!" I yelled.

Aqua, despite her godly reserves, was inevitably running out of mana by now, having sustained 'Turn Undead' ' for so long.

"From the crimson black blaze, buried within my person,"

Instantly, I was floored. It was as if a lead blanket had been chucked over me. Managing to turn my head, I saw that there was not a single person remaining standing on the battlefield.

"As a King of this myriad world, I alter the laws of nature"

The sky had turned black as if it was night, and a crimson glow was the only thing that penetrated it.

"I am the alias of destruction incarnate, who makes even the godly powers tremble in fear,"

Large cracks were making their way along with the platform on which she was standing, and I lying. The sheer density of the accumulated, unstable mana, was about to crumble it.

"With the accumulated power of the Crimson Magi Clan, I will tear a rift between worlds,"

Looking further, I could see the city walls begin to crumble. This was bad. I had not accounted for damage inside of the Barriers protection. And Megumin was far from done.

"When this stolen power reaches a fleeting crescendo, this dimension will fall at my hands."

"Let the hammer of eternity descend unto me, Megumin, destroyer of worlds."

Suddenly, the red light died out, and there was utter silent darkness. I found I was able to move.

I looked back.

Megumin's eyes were glowing bright red, and her staff, blacker than the surrounding night.

She looked up from under her hat.

"Explosion."

And the world went up in flames.


	16. Chapter 15

Authors note: This took way longer than it should to write. Also, it may seem irrelevant, but I promise, it is not.

This world is a large one. Well, that goes without saying; within it exist all types of people, doing all manner of things. Some believe that their life is a failure if they achieve nothing with it before their death, whereas some people believe the exact opposite. These people are often far less numerous and are often realists, who believe in making as little impact on society as possible. This entails having a weak presence, and only even act on whims at very specific times, a skill that the Japanese call _Kuuki ga Yomenai,_ or _,_ 'Reading the Air.'

These people analyze the expressions, postures, and overall demeanour of others upon entering a room. They can use this information to get an idea of the mood within the said room, and act accordingly. This could mean leaving the room entirely, or alleviating possible pressure.

The world is so large in fact, that beliefs between people can differ so as to start conflict. Said conflict can range anywhere between a small brawl of words, to a full out war. 'War,' while many believe differently, is simply a means to legally kill others. While many people will disagree, it is quite simple to prove.

While the world is large, it is in fact much smaller than most people would like to believe. The place that we like to call 'Earth,' is only about twenty-four thousand miles all the way around. Keep that information in your mind for a few seconds, if you please.

Now, I want you to imagine a simple globe; a conventional spherical map of the earth.

Now, please picture a poster of our solar system, one that you may have been shown in your early school years. I can safely assume that on it, you have a large flaming ball, then several other colourful spheres lined up. One of these, the third from the sun, is small, blue and green. Hovering maybe three or four centimetres from this is what appears to be a large rock. Our moon.

With a few calculations made by a not-impressive calculator, I can find that, unlike the solar map shows, the distance from the Earth to the Moon is not '3 or 4 earths.'

Recall that Globe map from earlier. Line up 32 of them, then place a model of the moon at the end. In terms of scale, that is how far our 'Luna' is from us.

With a few more calculations, we find that the closest planet to us, 'Mars' can fit more than 1000 times that; a total distance of 250 _million_ miles away.

Times our previous figure by _375000_ , and we reach the edge of our star system. I can easily predict that you are feeling almost no revelation, at least, considering the facts that I just stated. This is simply because of one other fact.

 _It is impossible for the human mind to even fathom that kind of distance._

Our solar system, despite common misconception, is _not_ the same thing as what we call 'The milky way.' That is our galaxy, which, if we were to imagine a map, would look like a single mega black hole in the centre, many colourful masses, labelled 'Supernovas.' And _billions_ of bright yellow dots. About 100 billion in fact. A single one of these is our sun, and _every_ other one has its own system of planets, possibly the size of the one I just calculated, most of the time much larger.

The distance from the earth to the edge of our solar system is about 2.9 billion miles. That means there are 34 star systems _per mile_ there is between our planet and Neptune.

Each star system can have any number of planets orbiting it, from one or two, to hundreds. It is believed there is no life on any of them but our own.

Now look back on what I said at the beginning. 'War is simply a means to legally kill others.' On a scale which I described, is the most important thing for the planet simply to survive? The great war can easily be viewed as a squabble between rats in comparison to simply our galaxy.

Modern technology makes it possible to view 200 billion galaxies in our universe.

Even considering that the other galaxies are the same size as our own, when they are often much larger, there should be 20 sextillion star systems in the universe. That number looks like this: 20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Modern technology isn't enough. That is not the final number, there is just no way to see past that yet.

And now, I can venture into theory.

There is one that states that the universe is made of layers. No number can exaggerate the amount of these layers; they are likely infinite. Each of these layers ore two-dimensional. With small each exertion of power, the layers of the universe warp, which is why we can exist in three dimensions. In between the layers is known as the immaterium, meaning immaterial, because nothing can exist there.

As I said, with small each exertion of power, the layers of reality warp, so it stands to reason that a large power output will warp them more.

If a power source large enough occurred, the layers would bend beyond safety, to the point of cracking.

Each layer represents a slightly different reality.

However, the universe is always in motion, so, of course, so are the layers of reality.

And, yet another axis exists.

That of time.

The axis of time is bent in the same way as the immaterium layers: through large power outputs.

So, through the constant movement of space, time, and the inexplicable fifth dimension, probability, few people have made their way between dimensions, but it is not unheard of.

Despite a sea of infinite improbability, a boy opened his eyes for the first time in 100 years.


	17. Chapter 16

**Konosuba: May this Party be Blessed with a Legendary Hero!**

 **Part 2 - May this Ruined Kingdom achieve Redemption**

My head was, with no other words to describe it, foggy. Rather than the faint orange glow you see in the morning before you open your eyes, mine was blue. I felt no real urgency to lift myself, despite the cold surface I was lying on, which felt like stone. Upon further exploration of my senses, I found that I had been sleeping in what seemed like a large puddle. The basin that I was in was strangely fit for my body, with my head being supported by an elevated platform. I let out a breath that I didn't realise I had been holding. As if autonomously, the moment I did, a girl's voice sounded.

The words she spoke were ineligible, and wavy, as if she was speaking behind a thick film of glass.

Once again, as if responding to my thoughts, the water in the place I was lying began disappearing. I describe it as such because I felt no suction, which would have been easily apparent if there was a drain. Instead, the water seemed as if it were quickly evaporating. Upon opening my eyes however, there was no steam in the air, and I felt cold.

"Open your eyes…"

The girl that I had been unable to understand earlier spoke again.

Open my eyes. I already had, but there was no one else in the room. The echo of the girl's speech was still echoing around it.

The room in question was somewhat small; it featured the shallow basin that I had been sleeping in situated in the centre, and a door in front of me. The interesting thing was not the placement of the thing in it, but rather the walls.

Every surface was glowing softly with a bright blue energy.

I took a step toward the aforementioned door, only to find myself stumbling. My limbs felt heavy, as if I were wearing training weights all along them.

I studied my body. I was wearing naught but a pair of blue boxer shorts. Further inspection granted me the information that it was made of neoprene, so it would dry quickly if it were to get wet.

The troubling thing was not my lack of clothes, however, but the scar that covered my chest.

It was a large circle of burned, cracking skin; it looked as if it had been literally cooked. In the centre, in stark contrast to the brown colour of the rest of the scar, was pale ripple effect.

In other words, it looked as if my skin had been melted, and solidified again.

Another concerning fact was that I had no memory of gaining this scar, nor anything else for that matter.

It was as if I had not existed up until this point.

Breaking me from my thoughts, a neon orange light disrupted the blue.

Somehow finding the strength to walk over and inspect it, I found the source of the glow to be a stone.

Upon picking it up for further probing, the door, which had earlier been locked shut, slid up into the ceiling with a rumble, revealing another room, very similar to the one I was in.

It contained two large chests, which, on opening, exposed some clothes.

In fact, that is misinformation, as they would better be described as rags. They, once upon a time, had inevitably been children's garb, but now they would serve to cover my scar.

It took several minutes to change into them, given my condition, but eventually I got them on.

I took another deep breath, and set about finding my way out of the two rooms that I had apparently been confined to.

Then, a rumble shook the ground as I passed an alter that I had not noticed before.

I was forced to shield my eyes as a horribly bright light came from the epicentre of the shaking.

"Link… You are the light—our light—that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now go."

Beyond the opening door there was what appeared to be a short cliff, then, behind that, the outside world.

I went.

Authors note: While some of you may not like where this is going, I promise that it will be very different from all other botw fanfics. It will descend into story pretty quickly, and I won't be focusing on Link. So stay with me!


	18. Chapter 17

Authors note: Sorry if that last chapter confused you all. I won't outright explain what happened yet, but hopefully, this chapter clears things up at least a little bit. Also, at this point, there really is not much I can do about the short chapters. I am trying my best to make them longer, but it is really difficult with the time that I have.

 **(Kazuma)**

I opened my eyes, only to find them seared by light. Regretting my decisions, I quickly closed them. Then, several seconds later, I realised that my body was sweating in unholy quantities. I held my hand over my eyelids, and then opened them. I let my eyes adjust to the new light level, then opened them completely. This time, I saw a sandy yellow sky. It was still very bright, but I could see.

I forced myself to my feet and felt my sense of audio begin to return, though I didn't notice that it had left.

My newly regained ability to hear granted me quite a bit of angry muttering from onlookers.

I paid them no heed, and began looking around.

I was in the middle of what seemed to be a village. Around me were stalls and buildings made primarily of sandstone, which made sense considering the desert landscape I could see out of the front gate.

Despite the houses looking as dull as could be possible, the residents had evidently decided to make the most out of the resources available to them and had decorated the area with colourful cloth, with intricate patterns weaved into the sheets.

Turning my attention back to the said residents, I found that they had formed a circle around me, and had begun throwing around insults.

"Go back to where you came from!"

"We don't need a Voe here!"

"You dirty pests just don't realise that we will come to you!"

I turned my head toward that last one.

She was wearing… well, not much. It caught my interest.

"Hey, wearing so little in public would be looked down upon in my land. Not that I'm complaining. So, um… would one of you Ladies care to tell me exactly where I am?"

I posed this question.

"Hey, you! I don't know how you got in, but Voe's are not allowed in Gerudo Town!"

I turned around to face the person that said this.

"Hey, thank you, I didn't think anyone was going to answer me!"

My comment earned me a jab with the spear that the person was holding.

And that signifies the point in my day where things took a nosedive for the worse.

"I'll have you know that despite my honest and manly complexion, I have no problem in hitting women."

I took one more jab at my primary skill 'Arrogant Wit.' Of course, it wasn't very effective.

Several female guards appeared out of nowhere and began running at me. I stretched out in anticipation.

"Upgrade," I said simply.

The same skill I overused in the tournament; a twenty per cent upgrade to all of my current stats.

"Upgrade," I said again.

The guards were getting pretty close; they seemed to be quite fast.

"Bind! Bind!" I exclaimed happily, throwing pieces of rope at them.

Two of my five attackers caught off guard, fell to the ground, tied up in a most indecent manner.

Noticing that they had underestimated me, the other slowed down, wary.

The crowd of onlookers had ghasped, and begun backing away at my calm control of their guards.

I would deal with them later.

"Lurk."

I leapt into a shadow.

"Flash Step."

I used this skill to quickly jump behind the enemy line.

The guards were looking around in horror, unable to comprehend that they had lost a target they had their full attention on.

"Create water!" I shouted, revealing myself.

They whirled around, now drenched, and began angrily charging at me.

"Icy wind."

And now they were Ice blocks!

Hehe.

"Escape."

And I ran away.

Hehe.

Their superiors would never believe them.

"Lurk." I said, though I was a good way away from the village that I had just embarrassed, it would be a good idea to hide because they might still be looking for me.

There was, however, a problem.

Since I woke up about fifteen minutes ago, my body temperature had been gradually increasing, and I had been hot at the beginning.

And I had used most of my mana in that stunt I had pulled earlier, so 'Create Water' would only take me so far in terms of hydration. It would probably have been best for me to prioritise finding another settlement before nightfall, which seemed to be almost upon me.

Twenty minutes later, I lost consciousness in a ditch.

And woke up again in a jail cell.

"This is your final warning. Free me or die!"

Where those words came from, I have no idea, but they drew attention to me quite quickly.

Somebody appeared outside of my cell.

"We don't doubt your powers. We saw how easily you beat the Gerudo's Warriors."

How unexpected. They don't doubt my powers? How nice of them. Nobody has ever not doubted my powers before.

"I really don't want to get caught up in any trouble. Could I just leave?" I asked.

"We will not stop you. Here is the key." The person outside told me. Throwing me it.

I decided to study the person in front of me after this turn of events.

They were tall and thin, but also were obviously a warrior. Their face was covered by a mask, and the rest of their clothing was completely gender-neutral. Not even their voice betrayed their true complexion.

I slowly picked up the key, expecting a catch.

No arrows shot from the walls, and I was not instantly killed on the spot.

I pocketed the key.

"Though," the person said, "I would not leave this building if I were you. During the night, the temperature here in the Gerudo desert drops to lethal levels. In the day, it rises to the point where it will easily kill you before you make it out."

So I was stuck here. The key to the cell was meaningless.

"But you are not stuck."

Oh, excellent.

The person continued:

"We can give you the clothing you need to survive, but we want to recruit you to our… organisation."

I pondered. I didn't have much of a choice. I had no idea how big this desert was, and there was no guarantee my mana supplies would hold out long enough to sustain myself in the cold with 'Tinder.' But you should never agree to something unknown.

"Exactly what is the goal of your organisation?"

Though he was masked, I could tell that this person was smiling.

He held up a piece of parchment, with a painting of a person on it.

It was very much a mugshot; the person in question was slightly tanned, and quite young. He had long blond hair and blue eyes. His skin was rough, and bore quite a few scars on his shoulders and neck, though his face seemed to be unharmed.

Somehow, looking at this picture made my head hurt. I felt like I knew this person, but it was just a feeling, I could remember nothing.

"Our goal is to capture and kill this man." The person in front of me said. "In a time when our country needed him most, he disappeared. But it is rumoured that will return soon. We will exact our-"

"Spare me the story. I am not from around here I couldn't care less." I snapped.

I had fallen into a somewhat bad mood. When I tried to remember the person in that picture, my mind greeted me with nothing but a splitting headache.

In fact, I couldn't remember much. Who was I before I woke up? I could remember light. Lots of light. And a vision of a small person in front of me, with a cape billowing out behind them. I strained to remember more but found it impossible.

It was strange, because I could remember my personality, my skills, and the way the world worked, language. But I could not recollect anything about the people or places in my life, apart from that single video-like memory.

"I'll join if I will be free to travel."

I had to find out more. If I travelled, I might uncover some answers.

"Of course. You only need to keep an eye out for this person. Come with me, I'll give you your equipment."

Authors note: So, I hope you are a little less confused now. Even if you aren't, that is okay, because I intended it to be confusing. Things will clear up over the next few chapters though! I hope you are still enjoying, despite this, which can only be called a plot twist. Anyway, see you in the next one, bye!


	19. Chapter 18

Authors Note: Have you checked out my new FanFiction yet? It's another crossover, including Konosuba again. The other Fandom is _Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio._ There really isn't much I can do to describe that manga, but it is amazing, I highly recommend reading it, or my Fanfic, which will follow the main storyline.

* * *

 **(Kazuma)**

I had never been so cold in my life. Actually, that was a lie. I had been this cold several times, but this was almost a different kind of cold. My bodysuit had soaked through, and the cold wind bypassed it as if it was not there. I had been sustaining a small flame above my index finger with 'Tinder,' but it did little to warm me. The ledge that I had set up camp on was quite high, but in comparison with the cliff that towered over me, it didn't look it.

I was in the centre of what could be called a ravine, but it towered out of the ground, rather than stay embedded in it. In fact, to look upon it must have been awe-inspiring, as it was quite the unusual natural phenomenon, but I felt far too miserable to appreciate its beauty.

I was in no fear of my life, as the soldier rations that I had received from my superiors were still in full supply. They kept you alive, but just that. They could only deliver enough nutrients to keep me alive and walking, but nothing past that.

As you may have already guessed, I was miserable.

I barely even stirred as a soft plodding was audible over the sound of the roaring storm around me.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked.

I forced myself to look up from the crouched position in which I was sitting. Crouching down in concern, a young boy was looking at me.

"I'm fine."

Is what I tried to say, but it came out as a slurred grunt. I hadn't spoken since I left base a month ago since my superiors had forbidden contact with other humans, for fear that our organisation would be exposed.

"Do you have anything to eat?"

I shook my head at his second question.

"I'll make you something."

My head slumped once again as he moved away, but I could still see him out of the top corner of my eye.

He laid down some sticks and continued until there was a small pile. I didn't have the energy to tell him that it was futile, that I had already tried.

Out of a blackened sheath on his back, he took a short grey shortsword. He stood up and held it to his side.

Straightening up, an alarming orange glow made its way up from the hilt of the otherwise dull coloured sword. As if magma was filling up the cracks, in intricate design weaved itself into the old blade. When it reached the tip, the entire thing lit up in flame.

And it was no cold flame. A wave of warmth slammed into me, almost knocking me out again. The rain evaporated as it fell near the sword, and even from a few metres away, I could feel my clothes drying.

The boy held his sword to the sticks and they lit instantly, whatever damp that lay on them evaporated instantly.

He crouched down, taking a few slithers of meat out of a pouch on his hip, which in turn went skewered over a small stick.

A few minutes later, he handed me something which part of me considered junk food for some reason but was nonetheless the best meal I had eaten since waking up in the Gerudo desert. I would say before as well, but I still remembered almost nothing.

On the subject of memories, I will say that I had remembered something. The clearest memory was without a doubt still one of the clearest that I had recollected was the earliest that had come back to me: that vision of the girl with staff and cape standing before me.

But that was no longer the only one that I had. If I strained my mind, I could remember a Sword Glowing bright blue, though I still had no idea who was the one who held it.

And on top of that, something far more sinister. I remembered a towering behemoth of a creature. It was vague, but I could tell it shouldn't have been alive.

And this memory came back with a trigger. Above the Castle in the north, you can see something similar during a blood moon, of which I had experienced two in my memory.

It was less of an incarnate being, and more like a presence. A presence that you could tell was rotting. This presence manifested itself in a cloud of purple smoke. A presence that made your skin crawl simply by looking it up.

I had heard it said that someone was in the castle with it, fighting it off. They say that somebody had left them, and everybody thought him dead, but he had reappeared recently.

This troublesome organisation that I had joined had a specific goal that I had been told before joining.

It was to kill this person.

With these worrying thoughts, I eventually fell asleep after my meal.

…

I woke up before hi. Our small camo in the crevasse was still very much in the dark, but not so much as it would have been just minutes before. The yellow morning sun was creeping its way between the duelling peaks, and the boy would soon wake up.

Which was where my problem lay.

Last night, I had not recognised this person, who saved me from my hunger. But now, with a full stomach and some sleep, I realised that he was the person that I had been waiting for.

The person that I had agreed to kill.

Now, I was in no way a person who would put others' well being before my own goals out of kindness, but I wasn't too keen on murdering him in his sleep.

Lost in thought, I had not noticed the sunlight that had slowly been creeping its way up this person's body. At that moment, it reached his closed eyelids, and he stirred.

My eyes followed his movements as he looked up slowly, rubbing his eyes. He looked to his side; where I had been sleeping not long before, and seemed slightly surprised that he was alone.

I had used 'Lurk' not a moment too soon.

I watched him as he packed up the camp with outstanding efficiency.

He kicked the smouldering remains of his fire over the edge of the cliff and then walked back to where he had been sleeping. He shook out, then folded his sheet into a small square and stuffed it into a pocket. He picked up his sword and slung it over his shoulder by the sheaths' strap in a single fluid motion. His bow and shield quickly joined them.

In a matter of seconds, he had erased all evidence that he was there.

He looked out of the ravine that we were in as if resigning himself, then began plodding slowly out.

I followed.

It took him, and by previous logic, me, to make it out. When we did, the sunlight that greeted us was indescribably refreshing, especially after being deprived of its directness for the past few hours.

While for the person I was tailing this was a normal day, but for me this was the height of excitement, something which I had been deprived of for too long, surviving in this, with no other way to describe it, 'wild' world.

I was not cut out for the survival-oriented way of life, but I could not mess this up.

It was as that thought crossed my mind that the boy ahead of me spoke.

"You really should come out."

I looked around, only to find that there was nobody else nearby.

I disabled 'Lurk.'

The boy turned around.

"Take off your mask." He said.

"I can't do that."

We stood looking at each other for a few seconds. Looking right at him, I felt an ache growing in my forehead.

On top of this, despite my superiors warnings never to remove this mask, I felt a strange urge to comply with the boy's wishes.

The boy in question slowly drew his sword.

I was supposed to engage him in combat on-sight, and the only reason I didn't was that I felt a sort of connection to him. Now, however, I straightened up, drawing my own blade.

"I have met one other from your organisation before," He said. "That man tried to kill me. Are you any different?"

Now, I had to get my priorities straight. This person was probably at least as strong as me, but I was far from perfect condition. I could lie and say that it was not my intention to kill him, but the chances that he would believe that were low.

I could run, but I would likely not make it far. This person was obviously not just a traveller, but a warrior. Considering this, and how lightly he was armoured, he had confidence in his speed.

It seemed I would end up in combat no matter what I did.

"I'm sorry," I said.

I put on a burst of speed and began running towards him.

And was stopped flat. With a gesture, yellow chains flew out of seemingly nowhere and bound me.

And then he began charging at me.

His sword lit up in flames as he came, and I could feel the heat, almost burning me already from this distance.

I broke free from his grasp just in time, dodging backwards.

My opponent seemed to have been expecting this and did not slow his barrage. He fought in a series of short swipes and blocked with a shield.

It was all I could do to block his strikes.

It was as I thought this that I realised that his blade was no longer lit with flame. It seemed that it needed some sort of cooldown. It also seemed that the main point of this sword was the flame, because otherwise, to me it looked quite badly balanced.

I dodged another one of his flaming strikes, and found my chance.

I counter-attacked with my own blade, which was far superior to his in terms of speed.

I was hitting him about three times a second, and he was struggling to hold his shield in place.

Another few seconds pared, and his defence was knocked away. His shield fell to the ground, it's handle splintered.

I had not a moment to celebrate my small victory, because a ring of flame expanded out from my enemy.

I grit my teeth as my clothes, though heat resistant, had a line burned out from them.

By ignoring the pain, I was able to counter-attack once again.

Despite my injury, it seemed that I had the advantage. My opposition had his back to a cliff.

It only took one more his to send him off it.

I looked down this cliff, to see him falling into a deep pool at the bottom. I spotted him just in time to see him let an arrow loose. It was a miss however and passed a metre in front of me. The person below me continued to fall.

Suddenly, just as I was recognising that I had won, an explosion behind me, followed by a shockwave, threw me off the cliff after him in a shower of rubble.

I realised in an instant that the arrow that had seemingly missed me earlier arced in the air, and fell just behind me. It must have been a bomb arrow.

I landed in the pool of water a second before my opponent.

It knocked all of the air out of me, but I was alive.

Swimming the shore, I found that my adversary had already made it.

I found my feet in the pool of water just in time for me to block another strike.

I had the disadvantage. I would be helpless in the water when my opponent was on land.

I took a stick of dynamite from my belt and used the next flaming strike to light it, very nearly losing my thumb.

I threw the now-lit stick of dynamite, then dived under the water. A splash showed behind me showed that the circumstances had changed, and I dragged myself out of the water.

I looked behind me to see him rising out of the water on a pillar of glowing ice.

I saw him draw an arrow, as if in slow motion and I could tell that this was checkmate for me. The tip of the arrow seemed to unfold, and a blue blade emerged. It flew toward me, emitting a strange sound, and it struck my sword. On impact, it seemed my entire body was being drawn towards it. It was painful. So much so that I almost blacked out. It faded slowly, however, and when it was gone, I came to my senses. I was alive, seemingly with no more wounds than I had a few seconds before.

I made to draw my sword and found that it was not there.

I sharp tugging in my sleeve slammed me into a tree. I found my eyes closed.

I heard several thinking sounds, then opened my eyes.

I was pinned to the tree by about 10 arrows piercing my clothes.

The person who had just beaten me walked slowly up to me, slinging his bow over his shoulder.

I studied him for the first time since we began fighting.

His clothes were soaked through with sweat, ripped in several places, revealing a massive scar across his chest. A nasty trail of blood, probably caused by some flying rubble during the fall, dripped from his forehead.

His blue eyes seemed to be deeper in colour than before, and his fringe was matted with blood.

He advanced toward me slowly, and I stopped trying to struggle. I was pinned too tightly to the tree.

He held out his arm toward my face, and his nails made contact with my forehead.

He ripped off my mask, and it fell, torn, to the ground.

His eyes widened, the first time I had seen him genuinely, fully surprised.

"Kazuma?"

* * *

Authors note: So, sorry for the last few chapters, which may have seemed static, and a bit boring… hopefully, this makes up for it a little, with the story beginning to advance. I tried a new style of fight here, and I hope you enjoyed it despite my incompetence. Also, please check out my other Fanfiction 'The World Within our Reach.' Um, I think that's it… see you next week!


	20. Hiatus Note

This is not a chapter, but a note to tell you all that I am going on hiatus for a bit. It's nothing serious, and I will only be a few weeks, a month at most.

Somehow, I kinda forgot where the story was going. I must have forgotten a while ago, but I only realised that I ceased planning the story this week. I have a great idea; it was the reason that Link and Kazuma travelled to Hyrule, but I have diverged far enough that I can't very well incorporate it. These past few weeks I have just been, for lack of a better phrase 'going with the flow.' I will eventually get back to my original plan, but because of several reasons, I can't get right into it.

So, I would like to pose a question: What would you like to see happen? I am at a severe lack of ideas (Besides my main one), so if you have any, please feel free to PM me or leave a review to tell me. Know that if you do, it will likely happen, because most people probably didn't read past the first paragraph…

During my absence, I may upload the odd chapter of my other Fanfic, but that is more easy to write because it follows a pre-written story.

So yeah. I am going on hiatus until I come up with a plan for the rest (or a good portion more) of this fanfic. So, if you have ideas, try to PM me as soon as possible, because then your idea will much more likely make it in.

Thanks, I'll be back in a few weeks!


	21. READ THIS BEFORE READING THE STORY

Hello! Thanks for reading! Hopefully you found this before you finish the entire story, sorry if you didn't! Just to let you know, the story is being discontinued, but a 'rebooted' version will begin under the name 'May this Wonderful World be Blessed with a Legendary Hero.' Go find it on my profile. It will be very different from this version though, so be prepared.


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